The Truth of a Certain Heroic Reality
by Kovaras
Summary: In one timeline, the servant EMIYA found his answer after fighting his younger self. Within another, in the wake of the failed Level 6 Shift experiment, several parties attempted to take advantage of the chaos and use spare clones for an nefarious experiment, only to offend a power far greater than their own. As an accessory of poetic justice, how will EMIYA change his new world?
1. The Answer of Truth

_I wasn't wrong._

That was the thought of Emiya Shirou, the Archer of the 5th Grail war, as he faded back into oblivion. As his mind and experiences drifted back into the Throne of Heroes, his mind still pondered about the war he just left behind.

 _I wasn't wrong… only the way I pursued the dream was wrong. To think the younger, more foolish me would prevail… And with Rin at his side… That Shirou will never turn into me. I may never escape this hell, but at least I can say I saved a world. I was finally able to save others, not just take lives. Even if I did it in the wrong way._

As the remnants of EMIYA entered into the Throne once more to reintegrate into the Counter Guardian bound within, a small sliver was pulled away. It was tiny, and unnoticeable; whose loss would affect nothing of the returning servant or the bound guardian within. But for those who pulled it away, it would change everything.

* * *

"Dammit! To think a level 0 could ruin **EVERYTHING!** "

"Tsk, I understand your distress Takahashi-san, but freaking out about this will not help us in the slightest. Be thankful that you're not Amai Ao. All the liability was forced unto him, and unlike him, we have contacts who will pay us well for the illegal spares we made."

"But still Kobayashi-san! Think of all the funding we lost, just to be redirected to other projects."

"No point in lamenting about it now, just be glad we'll be out of the city before they realize we embezzled about 10% of the funds for our own personal research."

"Do you think we can escape Academy City's agents?"

"Our contacts have given us their assurances, which is better than trying to gain the support of the Science Association like Amai."

"Who _are_ our contacts anyways?"

"They claim to be part of an organization called 'The Seven Colored Dawn'"

"That sounds… pretentious…"

"No shit, but the money is good. They've already posted the 10% down payment."

"Already?"

"They too know that there's only a short window of time before the Superintendent restores order in this chaos."

"Still, hundreds of thousands for 9 extra clones… Aren't you curious as to what they're so desperate for?"

"Of course I am, but we can look into that _AFTER_ we're safely out of Academy city."

Nodding, the two scientists drained the vats, revealing several naked middle school aged girls with long tea colored hair. The girls glanced around, looking at the world around them in awe like newborns. Their movements were awkward and clumsy, several of whom slipped and fell trying to stand up like the men before them or crawl. Takahashi could only raise his brow in curiosity at the sight.

"Hm? I thought the clones learned from each other through the network?"

"I isolated these specimens from the network. Last thing we need is LAST ORDER being able to track down these extras. For all intents and purposes these specimens are helpless newborns, barely sentient without access to the greater network."

"Ah, so the extra shielding you put in the insulation…"

"Was to prevent the network from accessing my specimens. Granted, most died shortly afterwards, but after the first few hundred or so, I finally got it to work. Of course, if they leave this lab as is LAST ORDER will detect them immediately. I have only isolated them from the network, not severed their connection"

"Then how are we to get them to our contacts?"

"I had special coffins created with the same shielding to isolate the specimens whenever I had to transfer them anywhere. Unfortunately, I only had 3 built. I wasn't willing to risk getting exposed with large numbers of extra clones. But if we sedate the clones we can pack 3 per coffin. It will be a tight fit, and they'll run out of air if left in there for a few hours, but the drop off point is only 30 minutes away."

"Right, let's get to work then."

The researchers walked away from the wide eyed clones, with Kobayashi going to prepare the coffins. While the other, Takahashi walked to the other side of the lab and pulled out syringes and flicked their needles. The newborn clones only stared in curiosity as he walked toward them.

* * *

"This is a dangerous game you're playing Bartel. If Birdway discovers we have been moving behind her back…"

"Our lives are already beyond forfeit, I know this Arno. But think of the opportunity! The grimoire we discovered in Germany has shown me a method of learning, but has been too outlandish to implement. An alchemical means of access to the truth of the world!"

Within an empty warehouse in Academy city, two sharply dressed men stood alone. The pair would not look out of place in a fashion magazine, with their platinum blond hair and their ice blue eyes. At first glance one would think they were merely a pair of tourists that somehow got lost in the advanced city. But in such a futuristic city, the golden spear and sword they respectively held in their hands was out of place, as was the blood red occult symbols that were recently painted onto the walls.

"But doesn't that method entail human sacrifice? I mean, all records show that the few that attempted that method ended up losing parts of themselves that negated any gains the ritual gave."

"Ah, that is true, but the Grimoire has shown me another way. An ancient german family found a way to modify the ritual by using the symbolic power of the number 9. A way that requires 9 identical individuals arranged to pay the price for one to access the truth. Since finding 9 identical siblings is beyond rare in history, the family attempted to circumvent this with specialized homunculi they produced. Unfortunately for them however, they were ultimately destroyed by their rivals before they could perfect the process. But with clones of a girl with power…"

"We can fulfil the conditions of the ritual. Still, this is an incredible risk, we siphoned a lot of money from the Dawn-Colored Sunlight to pay off those scientists. Even if we are successful, Birdway will probably still have us killed out of principle."

"Then it's best that we are overwhelmingly successful to give her pause. Now stop complaining, it's already too late to turn back now!"

Grumbling, Arno grabbed a piece of chalk and began drawing the primary alchemical circle on the floor, inscribing its center with the needed geometric patterns. Meanwhile, his partner began working on three other sets of alchemic circles, each adorned with three triangles, three layers, and three focal points. Once Arno completed the primary circle, he inscribed the necessary runes while Bartel symmetrically interconnected all aspects of the circles, following the principle of trinities the entire time.

The completed array was massive, taking up a third of the warehouse that was originally intended to store airplanes for Academy City's use. Bartel could not help but smile at the cleanliness of their handiwork. The peaceful silence was interrupted when their sensors buzzed, heralding the arrival of the scientists and the clones.

As the two began to walk towards the entrance of the warehouse, Bartel gave his partner a smug grin.

"You know, there is no way they couldn't have spent the money so soon right Arno?"

"Yes, and?"

"You still have the incense that laxes people's guard in the sideroom correct? See if you can use it to reveal their information. If that doesn't work, well Dionysus's wine should do the trick. Once you get their personal information, kill them so we can reclaim our funds."

Arno's eyes widened in shock at proposal.

"Eh? Isn't that a bit much Bartel? What happened to using them to fuse science with magic safely?"

 _Bartel, you've never been this callous before you found that damned grimoire._

"Once I obtain 'truth' they will not be needed. Besides, they betrayed their own organization for money. Who is foolish enough to trust traitors motivated by simple greed?"

Arno shuffled uneasily, his feelings of discomfort about the whole venture escalating immensely. Seeing his most reliable partner so uncomfortable, Bartel could only sigh.

"Hah… very well, we won't kill them, but still use the incense to gather as much information out of them as possible. We'd be fools to trust them blindly."

 _I can always kill them later and make it look like an accident anyways. I'll need to remember Arno is trustworthy, but too weak and squeamish for the dirty work. Huh, I wonder why I never noticed this before?_

Sighing a breath of relief, Arno nodded and walked towards the scientists as they unloaded the coffins just inside the warehouse. As Arno led the pair away, Bartel opened the coffins and one by one, carried the girls to their designated spots on the array. Smiling ferally, Bartel pushed magic into the array, causing electricity to spark and a blinding light to emanate from the alchemic circles. Information poured directly into his mind as the girls screamed, their bodies breaking apart from the strain of power coursing through the area. He saw a grand door, and a white silhouette of a man sitting before it, bearing a toothy grin.

* * *

 _Oh? It's been a long time since anyone used alchemy like this in this timeline. I see, human transmutation as well. Tsk, people never learn. Lets see what I can take from this fool in exchange._

Truth gazed upon aberrant man, who was audaciously using powers long since forgotten in the timeline he resided in. Looking within the man, Truth cringed in disgust as he found the Grimoire infesting his body, slowly eroding away the man who bore it.

 _Ah, that filthy thing. I was wondering when it would appear once more. To think it would endure in such an unsightly manner, to spread its distorted understanding of 'truth' to whatever timeline, whatever world it resides in._

 _The fool is nothing more than a puppet, unaware that his actions are slowly becoming not his own. The book is using him as a sacrifice to gain the knowledge it desires._

 _How poetic, a pestilence trying to contact god to gain the knowledge on how to become a proper plague._

 _ **Foolish.**_

 _One cannot gain anything without losing something in return, and nine newborn children with the life of a fool is not equal to that knowledge._

Smirking to itself, Truth mused on how to respond to this peculiar summons. The sacrifice was enough to reach the gate and the desires of all involved laid bare before it. The mage wants ultimate knowledge, the grimoire wishes to spread its truth of suffering, and the girls merely wish to live with their sisters they never had chance to know, and to leave a mark upon the world.

 _Then let me abide by all their desires!_

Reaching into the void to search for the most poetic of answers, he found a familiar fool drifting back into the Throne, one who in life failed to understand the nature of equivalent exchange. One who discovered **far** too late that you could not save one without sacrificing another.

But instead of seeing a broken man, insane from self hatred and loathing, he saw a man at peace with himself. A man who finally discovered the answer he had been searching for.

Beside himself in curiosity, Truth extracted a tiny fragment of the man as he flowed by, witnessing the 5th Grail war once more.

 _Hah, it would seem that even fools can learn, even if it took this one beyond an eternity to understand. To think the perfect solution would be found so effortlessly._

Taking energy from the fading souls for the girls, he empowered the fragment he plundered to survive as its own conscience. Then, taking their disintegrating bodies, he would forge a new one.

Then, as the puppet and the Grimoire finally appeared before the Gate, Truth sported a maniacal grin as he greeted the fools.

The Gate opened and several arms pulled the girls inside, their bodies disintegrating before the unperturbed mage. Calmly, he walked in, expecting his wish to be granted.

It was, in the form of an odd, spiral shaped sword that immediately pierced his body. Bartel's eyes widened he looked an odd sword, and then at the short girl who was holding it. She looked exactly like the clones that just died, but her skin was far more tanned, and her long hair became snow white, and her blank eyes were the color of steel. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the strange girl with one word:

" **Caladbolg."**

Suddenly energy erupted from the blade, a light reminiscent of a rainbow spiralling out in a torrent of power, rending and tearing apart the fool's body, and with it, the Grimoire that was stored within.

 _Heh, hehe… ahahahahahahahahahaha!_

Truth did not even bother to suppress his laughter as he held his stomach, with his maniacal grin not once fading.

 _Ultimately, pain, suffering, and death are what all humans will learn throughout their lives. And what better way to spread the Grimoire's teachings of suffering than an eternally damned hero of justice? And finally, the surest way for a human to leave their mark upon their world than to give it a new blood relative? One who can carry their will to the family they never got to know._

Pushing the girl out of Gate, Truth bade the Gate to close behind her with a deafening thud. It was at this moment that the girl, who was but a blank slate, began to awaken. Her eyes widened in shock at the odd environment she was in, then a moment later, the fact that she did not recognize her own body.

Bemused at the girl's confusion, Truth bore his trademark grin as he finally spoke.

"I know you have several questions Emiya, and in time, the answers will come to you in due time. Despite being a fool, you had a knack for gathering information in your afterlife."

The girl once known as EMIYA stared at truth, petrified at the raw power she was sensing from it.

 _A divine spirit?_

"No Emiya, merely Truth. None can hide their thoughts from me for I am a reflection of all things. But time is short, and I have used your services, so now I must recompense you. After all, equivalent exchange must be upheld."

The girl wisely held her tongue, prompting the white entity before her to speak.

"You are a fragment of a spirit, plundered at my discretion to deal with a fool trying to play god. Your body is forged from the lives of nine of his victims who desperately wanted nothing more than to see their family before their deaths. Your core is that of the Heroic Spirit Emiya, but your body is a vessel for the hopes and dreams of those young girls."

The world slowly began to disintegrate around them, and the girl could see the inside of a warehouse as the mists began to fade.

"You will live a new life, in this new world beyond the reach of Alaya. A world where the rules of magic and science are different from your own, and you **WILL NOT** squander it."

Nodding solemnly, Emiya began to flex her limbs, and willed Od to flow through is body. If she was to live in this new world, she needed to be prepared for ALL eventualities.

Noticing that she was prepared, Truth cut the connection, flinging the girl into the outside world.

 _I wonder if Emiya will notice that her body is… different than the others. Oh well, she'll do fine, or die trying._

Smiling to itself, Truth focused his attention to this new timeline.

The transaction was complete.

* * *

Author's notes:

Heya peeps!

Some peeps at the library I work at realized that I started writing fanfiction and challenged me to write a Fate x Index crossover. I read some of the early crossovers in the site and found many that I liked but were never finished, especially one about a Certain Reality of a Girl with Swords.

However, I don't think it was appropriate to just blatantly take someone else's story and use it as my own, but I'll sure as hell use it as inspiration to make something new. So here we are, Archer as a Misaka sister, a Mikoto alter if you think about it. A bit odd but I think it'll turn out cool.

Oh and I have a few more ideas for stories and I'll think I'll put a poll up soon after I gather enough will to update my profile page.

And lastly, I'm encouraging my editor to post one of his own ideas on Fanfiction soon because as cool as it sounds, I don't think I can pull it off. It's an Initial D and Fate crossover, featuring our favorite purple haired Rider from the 5th Grail war.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, the next chapter of The Shackles of Love and a Wish will be out in a few days, it's about halfway done, or ¼ depending on the length I decide to make it. Be sure to leave reviews! I actually do factor in what you guys say when I'm planning future arcs and stuff.

* * *

Editor Notes:

*wakes up at 8:00AM*

*8:00AM Ryousuke after playing a certain game with friends the night before*

*8:00AM Ryousuke's thoughts after editing*

"Someonefuckingkillmewhydoihavetodealwiththisafterafuckingsevenpageessayineedthesweetreleaseoframenplzthankyou"

~fin


	2. Bittersweet Reflections

The girl once known as Emiya studied her surroundings carefully, noting the painted occult symbols reminiscent of the runes from the Fragus magus family of his own time. Shifting her gaze towards the floor, she noted the sheer complexity of the alchemic circle, surpassing some of the formal craft works of the dead apostles she hunted as a Hero of Justice. There were several black scorch marks on the ground, each black mark a monument to the lives of the girls whose lives were cut tragically short, whose wishes echoed throughout her mind.

 _Who am I? What is our name? I want to meet my family, I want to see my sisters. Can ones such as us find meaning in this world? Can ones such as us know love?_

They were simple desires, ones that insecure children Emiya had once 'saved' confided in him in a world and time so long ago. The selfsame children who after he 'saved' promptly abandoned to move on to the next ones that needed to be 'saved'. Only now, as the girls' earnest wishes integrated into his being did he understand:

He never truly saved any of them.

A machine can save a life, but not a world. Each child's inner world was shattered, and he denied their salvation in his selfishness.

 _I wished to become a Hero of Justice like my father, and yet I failed to understand others. To save another, not only does another need to be sacrificed, but one needs to support the victim, become a pillar of strength while they recover and salvage their lives. Just as Kiritsugu did for me._

 _But what did I do? I saved their lives, became a "Hero" in their eyes, and just as they began to lean on me to heal, I abandoned them to move on to the next group who needed 'saving'._

 _How many did I damn from my neglect? How many lives did I inadvertently ruin in my immaturity?_

Closing her eyes, she shook her head, forcing away the negative thoughts that felt all too familiar from dominating her mind once again.

 _Truly I was a fool, but I am no longer that man. Heh, quite literally now._

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath of the air around her.

 _I can still smell magic, and there are several scents in the air. One belongs to that being called Truth, another belongs to the man who summoned it and was presumably killed by me. And there is one more that I don't recognize… That Magus had a partner, and he's nearby._

The girl formerly known as Emiya pushed her senses further, probing to test the limits of her new body, only to discover a connection to something. It reminded the girl of bonds she once held, both as a young man in a war alongside a blond woman who became a trusted mentor, and after his death as a spirit bound to a dear friend. But this connection was even more intimate; not only did it allow conscience thoughts and dreams to flow, but every emotion, thought and experience to be shared. And at that moment, contact was made with… something.

It was nebulous, and alien to all that she knew in her past life. The entity was contradictory: it was singular yet plural, united but separated, familiar but foreign. Initially, it seemed to cringe at his presence, only to press hard against him once it overcame its apprehension. It demanded, no it ordered him to submit, tendrils of control gently and carefully pressing into his mind and soul. Horrified, the girl recalled techniques against domination used long ago as a Hero, flushing her system with prana to expel the foreign presence.

The entity unexpectedly withdrew upon encountering its resistance. It felt confused and hurt at his rejection, with feelings of apprehension bleeding through. Gently it probed again, this time an inquiry, robotic yet surprisingly human:

 _What happened sister? Why do you reject us?_

The girl kept up her guard, unwilling to leave any openings as she considered how to respond, only to be distracted by an panicked scream.

"Bartel! Bartel! What happened?! What the... Why is there only one clone? Answer me clone, what happened to my partner!"

Opening her eyes, the girl cursed herself for her stupidity. She was so focused on dealing with the entity, that she neglected to account for the nearby magus. Looking at the three men, she recognized the kind of people they were immediately, for they were common in the Clock Tower.

The blond man with the sheathed sword radiated the same presence as an enforcer, bound by few morals, and driven to complete dangerous tasks all for the sake of one goal, one dream. His eyes alone shows a man who has seen battle, and the cruelty of war, but his fighting style eluded the girl. The sheath denied her eyes.

The black haired japanese men behind him however, the girl needed no weapon to understand. The two researchers' composure echoed those of the more cowardly magi: all too willing to indulge in corrupt processes for their benefit, but unwilling to endanger themselves. Rats that followed the strongest until it no longer suited them.

With a the girl's focus disrupted, a single thought leaked out along with the image of the three men.

 _They are the accomplices to the murder of the nine newborns, to make me…_

The entity greedily absorbed the information and pried for more, urgently commanding him to reveal everything. The girl however, immediately forced more prana into her system to stave off the other so she could focus on the immediate threats before her. Only one thought, one emotion was permitted to escape the steely mental walls she erected:

 _I do not trust you, and I will avenge them alone._

* * *

Arno knew something was wrong when he felt a massive influx of energy pulse from inside the warehouse. Any magician or magically aware individual would have felt it from a 100 kilometer radius. Only a few seconds passed before Arno decided to run back into warehouse to check on his friend, only to see a tanned naked girl with white hair standing alone in front of the array. In his panic, he demanded answers, but the clone seemed preoccupied and ignored him.

His face becoming flush in anger, he was about to take a step forward before she shifted her attention towards him. She studied Arno and the two behind him for a moment before raising a brow and and crossing her arms. Her face became smug as her lips formed an insufferable smirk.

"Now now mister, don't you think I'm a little too young for you? I mean, what does it say about you when you're staring at my body with a blush like that?"

There was a deafening silence at her declaration, as Arno's mind blanked for a moment at the accusation while the other two scientists looked at him awkwardly. After a moment they finally asked,

"Is that the reason why…"

" **No, NO IT WAS NOT!** '

Arno turned to face the two, face once again flush with rage at the insinuation, only for his focus to shift back unto the girl with her response.

"That was pretty forceful there, a little too forceful don't you think? Guys need to be honest with themselves you know? It's not good to be in denial about your feelings."

" **Shut up! I'm not into little girls! I like…"**

Arno stopped himself mid rant as he realized the girl's aims.

 _She's stalling for time while sowing discord. Instead of focusing on what's important, such as who the_ _ **hell**_ _she is, she's making me defend myself against my supposed allies' inane inquiries. Focus Arno,_ _ **FOCUS.**_ _You are in the middle of enemy territory,_ _ **ALONE.**_

Taking a deep breath, Arno refocused himself onto the odd girl, ignoring her statements about "enjoying the view" before finally speaking with a professional calm.

"Young girl, I will not ask again. What happened to my partner?"

The girl's mocking face slowly became neutral before she calmly answered.

"Dead, I'd imagine, much like you in the near future for murdering the young girls used to create me."

Arno winced at the steel in her voice before silently cursing his callous allies once they opened their mouths.

"Girls? Hardly. Clones are nothing more than livestock grown in vats. They are to be used, and butchered for the betterment of society."

The girl's eyes narrowed dangerously at the man's words, who continued speaking, completely unaware of the murderous aura emanating from her body.

 _They remind me of the bastards that threw away Illya…_

Arno subtly positioned himself to guard the unwary fools, well aware of the growing fury building within the girl, trying his best to ignore the feelings of mounting disgust within himself.

"Dogs and cats hold more value than those disposable shells. They aren't even real people, merely paltry **imitations** of **real** humans."

"I see, so it is clear to me now…"

The girl took a few steps forward, with her arms reaching out before her as if to grab a weapon.

"People like you… never deserved to draw breath in the first place. Trace... on."

Two beautifully crafted blades, ones of black and white materialized in her hands as she charged forward, he body moving faster than any normal human could possibly achieve. The callous man barely had time to widen his eyes in fear before her blades swung, only to be intercepted by a sheathed sword.

"You are even more dangerous than even I expected, little girl."

* * *

The girl winced as her married blades were blocked by the blond magus.

 _Tsk, I wasn't expecting the sheath and sword to be strong enough to endure a noble phantasm._

As she jumped back to disengage, the metal sheath was sheared off as she pulled the blades back, a tiny gash marring the blade beneath. Softly, the girl grinned as she spotted the exposed blade, her eyes taking in the entire history of the sword, and that of its wielders both past and present.

 _A replica of Angurvadal, forged by Anja Lucassen, norse magician of the small magical cabal Seven Colored Dawn. She was a fearsome warrior and magician, who with her cursed blade, slew a rampaging saint in single combat, in the bloody fields of a war that threatened to expose magic to the wider world. But above all else, she was a woman who wanted to fulfill the dream of the man she loved, a world where no one cried. When her superiors ordered her to abort his child she refused, instead opting to flee and hide from her pursuers. She succeeded for 11 years before the cabal finally caught up with her. Passing on her replica to her son, she charged alone against impossible odds._

 _The boy took up magic to honor his mother, and eventually was unwittingly recruited by the same organization that killed his mother. Slowly working his way through the ranks by hunting down traitors, he plotted to avenge his parents, with the help of the only true friend he made in the organization, Bartel Achthoven. When the Cabal eventually submitted to the Dawn-colored Sunlight, they played along, gaining access to both organizations' wealth as treasurers. Before finding the Grimoire in the burned out husk of a castle ruin in Germany, they were on the verge of leading a revolt against the Seven Colored Dawn, aided by all the 'traitors' that were conveniently 'incinerated' when Arno hunted them down. It was then Bartel convinced his friend to go along with this venture, arguing that with the Grimoires help, they can use some left over materials in Academy city to overturn the odds into their favor._

 _A man of strained honor, walking upon a dubious path of vengeance. But all is permitted, for he is the one that bears the burden of his mother's will._

Blinking, the girl shifted her stance, leaving openings that she knew Arno prefered to punish when fighting against other magicians.

 _Tsk, calling themselves sorcerers and magicians. It's going to be hard associating that word for what I'd consider magi and not monsters like Zelretch._

Arno took the bait, swinging his sheathed blade towards the girl's stomach.

 _I see, he's going for incapacitation… Naive!_

The girl shifted her posture, effortlessly deflecting the attack with her left arm while swinging her blade at the man's arm. His clothes glowed briefly with the power of norse runes as the blade approached, but offered no resistance as it cut through, leaving a deep gash on his left arm. Arno's eyes widened in shock as he jumped back, his bloodied arm resting limply at his side. Glancing briefly at his arm, he timidly flexed his wounded arm and grimaced.

 _That's not good, the gash is too deep, I will only have enough strength left in it to unsheath my sword. Looks like I have to play this cautiously._

He launched himself forward, using a series a probing attacks to measure the strength and reaction times of the girl. But unlike before, every strike was measured, ignoring obvious holes, using slashes and thrusts that took advantage of his superior reach and prevented a counterattack. Every attack was parried, deflected or avoided, but he could tell; the girl was getting tired. But a nagging thought kept echoing in his mind.

 _Those swords came out of nowhere, but it doesn't seem like an esper ability… it feels more like magic… What is this girl?_

* * *

The girl furrowed her brows in frustration. The man was utterly ignoring every opening she left and was instead focusing on wearing her down. None of the attacks would reach her, but her stamina was not infinite. Her body was not of a man who fought in over a thousand battles. No, it was of a middle school girl who had yet seen a minor school yard scuffle. To make matters worse, she had no time to understand the limits of her new body, making it far too risky to do anything more than the bare minimum of reinforcement.

As exhaustion slowly ate away at her, she narrowed her focus to just the magician before her as the researchers observing became more and more of a non factor in her mind.

A lethal mistake.

As the pair entered another bout, she felt a prick on her sides. Glancing down, she saw the familiar barbs and lines of a taser. At the end of which was one of the researchers. Time seemed to slow down for the girl, tensing in anticipation of the incoming shock.

 _What? But how? I should have sense hostile intent and reacted appropriately!_

She looked at the researcher's face, and saw not an ounce of malice. Only curiosity.

 _I see, he doesn't see me as human. Only a test subject. After all, a scientist doesn't need to hate the lab rat to hurt it. Only curious enough to see what will happen._

And yet the pain did not arrive. After the initial sting of the barbs entering her skin, her body instinctively reacted, redirecting the flow of electricity to pass harmlessly through her, and back through the line, shocking the man who dropped the taser with a yelp.

And yet he did not seem bothered, instead he bore a toothy manic smile as he dusted himself off. His compatriot also stared at the girl, like a wolf being tantalized by a bloody steak.

"Well… this is fascinating."

* * *

The girl instinctively took a step back, feeling more danger and pressure emanating from the researchers than the magician bearing the sword. Even the magician faltered at the sight, clearly disturbed by the change in their demeanor.

"I don't know what your partner did in such a short time Mr. Arno, but he has done the inconceivable, what countless research labs has tried and failed. Two esper abilities in one clone. Elektromeister and whatever this new ability to create swords is."

The hunger and tints of madness could be seen in their eyes, obsessively observing every inch of the girl's nude body, searching for any hints that could answer their burning questions.

"So many wasted attempts. No matter what method we used: cybernization, hypnotism, drugs, on whatever subjects we could acquire: adults, children, clones, fetuses, we could never get more than one ability per person. Even splicing the genes of an aborted fetus onto a developing child in the womb failed to produce anything viable."

"Indeed, I remember that experiment. The child came out malformed, and unviable, but it did ultimately give us much needed information when it came to DNA manipulation. The mothers' outrage was annoying to deal with though."

"Yeah, I remember all the legal hoops we had to jump through before the higher ups decided to silence them through other means. They should have just taken the money, those idiots."

As the two talked between themselves, too lost in considering the possibility of such a rare and abnormal existence before them that they once again they were oblivious to the mounting horror and disgust of both the magician and the girl.

"Regardless, Mr. Arno, please procure that specimen as soon as possible. Dead or alive she's worth more than almost anything else in the world right now."

Arno did not reply, instead only looking at the girl with conflicted eyes. Eyes that the girl immediately recognized in others during her past life as a Hero of Justice. A man torn between pragmatism and his morality. A man who would become an ally with the right words. Brandishing her blades, she stepped forward towards the magician, mustering as much defiance as she could.

"I see. Come then Mr. Arno. I will not go down easily to murderers such as yourself. I fail to see the difference between you and your partner who would sacrifice newborns for power, and researchers that have no respect for life inside or outside the womb. What's point of making sure a child is born, if it will die from neglect or inaction afterwards?"

Arno cringed at the statement before turning towards the researchers.

"Newborns?"

"Ah yes, they were completed about 4 hours ago, although why does that matter? They fulfilled their task and your friend created this masterpiece before us. Clones are clones, no matter how fresh they are."

"I see… I hate it when my enemies are right."

Placing his left hand on his sheath, he began to draw his sword. The sword humming in power as the air around him began to stir, heralding the coming of a legend.

He drew his sword in a single motion, charging forward he swung to behead the enemy before him. Angurvadal glowed with with a pale light, unwilling to reveal its true brilliance before such a pittance of a battle

* * *

The girl offered no resistance, as Arno ran by her much to the horror the the researchers. Their heads swiftly became offerings towards the spirits of the children sacrificed for the cause of progress for progress's sake.

Sheathing his blade once more, he rifled through the corpses' pockets, pulling out their wallets. Then with pen and paper, wrote several notes while pacing back and forth. Alarms started blaring throughout the warehouse but he carried on unperturbed. The girl watched on in curiosity, unwilling to distract him while he was so clearly focused.

After writing the notes, he tossed them and the fallen men's wallets over to the girl who effortlessly caught them. Then, as he walked over to the walls near the array, he started engraving norse runes, which soon started spewing water, washing the circle away. All the while, an ever brightening light gleamed from the holes in his sheath.

"The powers of the city has noticed something has transpired here, and are coming in force to seize anything that could benefit them. I know not how girl, but you are a magician and an esper. I thought I felt magic in those blades and I was right. How much do you know about the world around you?"

The girl, noting the earnestness and resolve in his face, answered truthfully.

"Little, the process that made me only gave the basics of language, some life skills and some of the magic you witnessed with little else. I don't know where I am or what the situation is."

"I see. Then as an apology for my actions, I'll give you the basics. In this world there are two powers fighting for control. Until the founding of this city, there were only magic cabals that operated in the shadows of society. We of no talent seek to fulfill our dreams to spite god or whatever creator that would deny us. Then this city was founded about 60 years ago. A city that rejects the occult and uses nothing but talent and science to achieve dreams. A rebuke to everything we Magicians stood for."

The girl nodded, prodding the man to continue.

"This power of science created espers, people of talent revealed by drugs and technology. Theirs' is a power determined by their souls and bodies. But those of talent cannot use magic, for it is the means for we, the talentless use to overcome fate. Every attempt to do so has led to either the death or crippling of the subjects, until you. Once the world realizes what you are, you will be target for **EVERY** power in the world, and nothing can stop that."

He gazed at the girl in pity, for almost every ending possible for her would be of tragedy and suffering. Shaking his head, he pointed to the wallets and notes in the girl's hand.

"Those are the passwords and all the personal information of those human shaped pieces of filth I had to dirty my sword with. It should be enough to give you a decent start in this world. I would explain more, but time is not on our side"

Additional alarms started blaring, as the sounds of helicopters and vehicles could be heard outside the warehouse. Nonchalantly, Arno walked towards a corner of the warehouse and tapped the floor 3 times, revealing a trapdoor and a cloak. Motioning her to come, the girl warily approached as he draped her shoulders with it.

"There once was a king who had 12 daughters, but every night their shoes were worn as if they spent the night dancing. When they refused to explain how, the king offered his daughters' hand in marriage for any who could figure out their secret within three days and nights. It wasn't until an old soldier, bearing a cloak of invisibility that their secret was finally revealed. With this, one can depart anywhere unnoticed. I do not know if it will be effective against the technology of this city, but it has been proven on people."

The girl touched the cloak with her hands, and using Emiya's structural analysis, confirmed Arno's claim. It was a replica of cloak in the fairy tale, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", a replica worthy of being called a noble phantasm.

"Useful, but as you said, unproven against technology. If we tried to escape using this we'll be surrounded and captured."

"True, but if you leave alone you will have enough of a headstart to blend in somewhere and escape. After all, who would search for a fleeing mouse when a lion is bearing down in you?"

The girl looked the man in the eyes and seeing his grim resolve, and nodded at his determination. Pulling the cloak over her head and disappearing from sight, she walked into the underground passage, the trapdoor closing behind her with a final thud. Her pattering footsteps started echoing throughout the underground passages.

 _This will probably be my final act. I failed to avenge my mother, but if that girl, that impossibility survives and accomplishes anything in her life, then it will be enough... enough to prove my mother's decision was right._

Arno closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as once more he placed his hand upon the hilt of his sword. Fire was leaking from the holes in his sheath, Angurvadal hungering for the coming battle. For the sake of his mother's memory, and to defend the child fleeing behind him, he would wage war, even if he must stand alone.

When the doors of the warehouse were blasted down, he was greeted with swat teams and an APC bearing down on him, with attack helicopters, snipers and drones awaiting him should he attempt to flee. His death was all but guaranteed.

So he smiled.

Why fear the end, when you can face it with a smile? After all, Death is the last companion you will meet in life, so why be afraid and hold anything back?

So, why not show your audience a grand finale before you depart from this stage called life?

"Redemptio126."

* * *

Author's notes: This will be longer than normal

Wow, I wasn't expecting such a strong response to this story. But I'll do my best to live up to your expectations, as for what I'll write below, I'll do my best to address the concerns I've seen in the reviews as of 12/3/18

Dcraus, I must politely decline the challenge. I am not that big of a fan of Akame Ga Kill. It isn't a bad series, just not one suited to my tastes. As I am now I will not be able to do such a story justice.

But seeing as how you have good ideas, why not try writing it yourself? If you are anxious or unsure of how to go about it, why not make an outline of what you want to happen, and then ask yourself, "How would my favorite authors write this? How would they try to create transitions that lead up to these points?" and try to mimic their style. It won't be a true match because you are not the author's themselves, but you can use them as a foundation to create your own unique style. After all, there have been times when I noticed other authors influences in my own works.

As for the concerns about fate vs index powers, I'll try to list my general views now. Do note that I stopped reading Index during the World Rejector arc so it might be a bit outdated. I didn't like that arc so I'm waiting for a few more books to be written so I can plow through it in one go because I'm betting that the series will be more enjoyable to me after that arc.

Right, Fate Magi vs Index Magicians. From what I can tell, both fluctuate in relative strength, but as a whole, I'd say the average Index Magicians have a clear power advantage over Fate Magi. **BUT,** as Tsuchimikado once said, mentality wise Magicians are children wielding knives. Fate Magi generally are amoral ruthless killers who do not hesitate. I'd say they would win more often than not against index mages not because of strength but because of mentality. But any average Index magician that has properly resolved his/herself would CRUSH any average Fate Magus.

As for Servants, I would say servants have a power advantage over average saints, but not overwhelming. They'd be peers in power, with a saint being able to defeat a servant. But, similar to the Fate Magus vs Index Magicians there will be a mentality or more accurately, an experience gap. Servants are a representation of the total experience of a legend combined the absolute apex of their power during their lives. Saints on the other hand may be at the apex of their power during their life, but only at only at a fraction of the experience. I'd like to think Saints as legends still in the middle of their story. So one could say Saints as they are now in the books would be akin to lily servants, compared to their end of life selves that would be summoned as a top tier servant should Fate mechanics be implemented here.

Out of respect of the people who have not the access or the opportunity to see later into the first index series aka currently unpublished in english or the sequel series, I'll try to use aliases to explain power levels of characters you've yet to meet.

A certain final antagonist of the first index series who can be blatantly be called overpowered with a 'win' option should the world be an rpg game, I'd rank him with the Grand servants in power, because I could easily see him wiping the floor with most servants. The saint nicknamed 'superman' by the fans I could see as barely entering the same Grand Servant category. The 'help' the antagonist summons during the last battles of the first series would be a divine spirit. As for the 'Majin' excluding their well, primary powers which are EXTREMELY overpowered and focusing on just their core combat powers they displayed when they DON'T want to cause THAT much widespread ruin, I'd rank the weakest 'Majin' with the top of the line Grand Servants with the average and more powerful ones being as strong as actual heroic spirits. Not the limited versions that are summoned as servants. I mean the whole bloody legend that is actually and quite literally impossible to summon because they are too powerful.

Oh, and as for the level 5 espers, I'd say most of them are at the power of weaker servants, with the same problem of lack of experience but even worse since they are only middle school and high school students. As adults with experience, I think they will be true peers of servants, if not a match.

With Accelerator being an exception. As he is now I'd say he could defeat servants as long as they didn't use abilities that have no vectors. For example, if servant EMIYA were to fight against Accelerator, Emiya would only win if he realized Accelerator could only manipulate things and concepts with vectors. He'd need to use something that Accelerator cannot calculate to defeat him. Maybe Gae Bolg? But even then only if Accelerator didn't find a way to idk, calculate the vectors of physics manipulation bending fate does and can counteract it. He's busted mathematical genius like that.

To which academy city thought: "We have a mathematical genius who can calculate things beyond human comprehension, lets have him kill a bunch of girls to level him up!"

/facepalm

And if someone says: "But what about UBW!?"

Let me ask this,

"How does giving Accelerator a place with more ammo with special abilities to fling at whatever is pissing him off help defeat him?"

Lastly, for how strong the girl once known as Emiya is, I'll post it in the breaks below, so those that don't want to be spoiled can skip it

* * *

Spoiler Zone Start!

* * *

I'm planning on listing her with the other level 5s. I could easily see the arguments of putting her as a level 6, which I could see her barely making. And by barely making, I mean meets the requirements through technicality but with nowhere near the power expected of a level 6.

That aside, later in the she will be a MONSTER, but not an overbearing one. She's not used to her body, nor does she understand the mechanics of the world yet. And for someone who inherits the spirit of EMIYA, a lack of knowledge and understanding is lethal. If you really must know how strong she is currently, think of her as strong as UBW Shirou in magic and about a level 2 esper. I hope the small fight she was in earlier against an average magician highlights how vulnerable she is right now. She'll get stronger as the story goes along, but she'll NEVER be the strongest.

But ultimately, levels mean nothing if you don't have the right mentality to use that power correctly.

A level 5 can be defeated by a level 0, and not just counting Touma. Remember there was that crazy Kihara that pulled it off too. And there was another example with a certain additional protagonist and his crazy stalker.

Besides, even if I label the girl once known as Emiya as a level 6, she could still be defeated by a level 4 or 3 that was adequately prepared.

Oh, and the girl does have a new name, but I'll reveal it in the story, not here. (editor came in with the clutch name)

* * *

Spoiler Zone End!

* * *

Of course, if you guys noticed that I'm misunderstanding something, which is definitely possible since I haven't read the books in a long time, be sure to point it out as well as which book, or at least which arc I can reread to make the necessary corrections. Do note that I currently have access to up to book 17 of the first series and the new testament series. Anything between the two I currently cannot reread.

Oh and if you do need to post corrections on the reviews, please remember that not everyone is on the same page story wise, I know some people that can only watch the anime so they have no idea what's going to happen in the future. Please try to use aliases or minimum details so we don't spoil it for them.

Right then, I'm counting on your reviews! I may be making the story, but I'm relying on my reliable editor and you guys on making this an adventure worth reading!

* * *

Editor's Notes:

So, yeah. Finals suck. Still doing this and procrastinating out of love and a sense of college student morality. Chapter was actually a blast. Nude Mikoto Alter ftw (inb4 it's actually Kuro).

So, interesting bit here. The Accelerator part of the AN? Literally actual truth. Like, more truth than Truth himself from the prologue. Like, actually hot damn. With Accelerator, Gilgamesh and EMIYA matchups now look like rock-paper-scissors.

Also, the naming reason for EMIYA's new name will be revealed in due time because Kanji is an actual bitch worthy of its beauty.


	3. Starstruck Luck

Accelerator's mood as he flew through the morning twilight skies with a miniature Misaka clone in his arms could be described in one word: normal. That is, if normal meant moody, irritable and foul mouthed.

"Where the hell are we going, shitty brat? I thought you could figure out where this new girl was from the network"

"Misaka is searching, Misaka says with a frustrated voice as Misaka grapples with the existence of the anomalous sister."

After a moment she furrowed her brows, then suddenly pointed below them to a street lamp they just passed.

"She is there, Misaka says as Misaka proclaims with all the joy Misaka can muster as Misaka proves herself valuable to the esper carrying her in his arms."

"There's no one there brat."

"But that's where she is, Misaka says as Misaka exclaims desperately! This new sister can somehow reject inquiries from the Misaka Network, but she cannot disconnect herself so therefore I can track her, Misaka says as Misaka shouts proudly with fists raised high in pride!"

"Ugh… you'd better be right, shitty brat."

Sighing, Accelerator willed the tornadoes at his back to gradually die down, allowing the pair to land softly near the lamp. While looking around with disinterested eyes, his mind wandered to review what happened within the past 24 hours.

* * *

He had met the clone named LAST ORDER wrapped only in a tattered blanket... who then decided to follow him back to his ruined apartment after realizing he would not help her get into contact with some of the scientists who released her prematurely. Initially, he wanted the nuisance to go away, but her pleads to let her stay because she was afraid of being alone only tugged at his heart, not that he would admit to it though. That, and it was too bothersome to send her away when she was doing nothing to actually antagonize him.

So, it was much to his displeasure when she pestered him awake a scant 6 hours later, begging for his help. At first he was about to merely reflect the sound waves away from himself until the girl mentioned someone restarting the experiment. THAT immediately gained his attention, and he demanded answers. A mix of guilt and curiosity pushed him to begrudgingly agree to help. Guilt for his sins of murdering all those girls, curiosity when she stated that the new sisters died, and each one suffered more in a few brief moments between their detection and termination than what Accelerator inflicted upon the Network as a whole during the experiment. That, and somehow, their deaths were the catalyst to create a new sister that could reject the combined will the the Network.

* * *

 _There are too many unknown factors going on here. Something besides the shitty scientists behind the level 6 shift is involved here._

Despite LAST ORDER's insistence that the sister in question was here, Accelerator saw no one. There was no signs of anyone being on that street besides themselves. Over time, he felt unnerved, with his instincts screaming that something was wrong here.

 _The Sister Network could communicate with each other regardless of distance with few materials in existence that could interfere with it. Nothing on this street has that material, and there are currently no known ways of creating a dummy signature. So the girl must be here. If the signal cannot be interfered with, what about our senses? Our optics? Let's see…_

Noting the light dusting of sand and dirt on the sidewalk, he kicked up a slight breeze, blowing the dust towards where the annoying brat indicated the sister was located. Straining his eyes, he could see the dust carried by his wind fly around something vaguely human shaped.

 _Interesting… optical cloaking? Not that it will be any use against me!_

Kicking off the ground, Accelerator rushed towards the unseen girl, only to be greeted with thrown daggers to his side when he reached the spot he first detected the invisible girl.

 _Idiot._

The daggers reflected off of him effortlessly, one of which embedded itself onto a nearby building. The other, seemingly stopped midair, with a slow trickle of blood dripping down from it before a tanned girl with white hair suddenly appeared in his vision, clutching her side in a vain attempt to staunch the bleeding.

"Tsk, I thought you girls learned from the Network. It's useless to attack me."

"Stop, Misaka says as Misaka begs with all of her might! Misaka does not want to see you hurt another sister by accident, Misaka says as Misaka flails her arms, trying to run between the pair!"

"Oh please, it's not like I intentionally threw a dagger at her. I reflect everything, including stupidity."

"Misaka sighs in disappointment, but ultimately chooses to ignore him to focus on her newest sister, says Misaka as Misaka shifts focus to her unknown sister. Hello, Misaka says as Misaka greets the strange sister that doesn't like to talk through the Network like a normal sister!"

The Girl looks at the pair blankly, first at the albino boy with a scowl, then the energetic young girl wrapped in only a ragged blanket. Finally, she glances down at the dagger currently sticking out of her side before looking at the odd pair once more.

"What."

* * *

The Girl once known as Emiya looked at the pair in confusion.

The boy reeked of darkness, of a killer that has drenched his hands in blood of others. A monster she would have once hunted in her past life. But his eyes were not that of a hardened killer, because during the exchange she saw flickers of emotions, of remorse.

 _A killer that learned far too late the error of his ways? But he doesn't even look of age yet… what kind of world produces monsters like this?_

The small girl on the other hand, was causing a wellspring of thoughts emotions to erupt from the former servant.

 _Sister, Family, Loved One, Administrator_

Every fiber of her being proclaimed that the child before her was family and to be trusted. The entity pushed once more against the Girl's mind, gently commanding that she submit and rejoin them. It took every ounce of EMIYA's iron will and discipline for the Girl to resist the impulse and to continue to flush her system with Prana. But seeing the barely clothed girl before her did raise some serious doubts in the former Emiya.

After escaping the warehouse, she followed the tunnel for about a mile before she took advantage of a service entrance and returned back into the surface. Initially it seemed as if the cloak worked fine, as no one paid attention to her. She expected a girl covered only be a cloak would be eye raising but now upon seeing an even younger child than herself walking around in nothing more than a ragged blanket, the girl was beginning to contemplate whether or not this was a norm in this strange land.

Shaking her head, the former EMIYA looked around for a means of escape. Her body trembled in fear of the boy and abhorred the thought of harming the girl, but she refused to be captured and risk her unique features being detected by an in-depth examination. Taking a few steps, she positioned herself to bolt into a side alley once she saw an opening, only for the boy to fly between her and the alley. Tornadoes at his back, he hovered a few feet above the ground and with a sarcastic expression he asked:

"Oh? And where do you think you're going?"

Grimacing the girl looked around for more options: debris, bystanders, alternate routes, anything to help her escape. All the while the boy looked on disinterestedly. Only the small child was animatedly speaking.

"No, Misaka implores as Misaka hopes that no further conflict is needed! You need help, your wound needs to be treated, Misaka begs as Misaka hopes that her newest little sister will see reason. And why do you reject us, Misaka says in addendum as Misaka hopes to understand why her little sister refuses to trust family."

At such heartfelt pleas, the girl who was once EMIYA felt obliged to answer.

"It is simple. I do not know you, I do not trust you. I will not submit until I see the world for my own eyes. I will not trust blindly in anything, not when my creation came at the cost of so many lives on the whim of a few arrogant researchers."

"Hoh? A sister that isn't a moron since birth? For once, I'm actually half impressed considering the performance of your predecessors!"

"Misaka requests that you be extra gentle, says Misaka as Misaka puts her faith in the nice esper that gave Misaka a place to sleep last night!"

"Shut up! You're getting on my nerves! And of course I'll be gentle. No point in damaging someone that **isn't** an idiot. As for you, seeing how you are not being a complete moron, I'll be nice and let you know: I'm the top level 5 esper, Accelerator. I can manipulate any and all vectors. So be a nice little girl and give up. I'd rather not waste any more time on this."

"I politely refuse. Nothing is infallible. But don't worry, I'll be gentle in escaping so you don't get hurt."

"Is that so?"

"Yep."

Dozens of blades of different makes and models materialized in the air around them. Accelerators eyes widened for a moment before settling back into his normal disinterested stare.

 _Odd. Did she use electromagnetism to rearrange metallic particles in the air make these metal blades? Wait, they show signs of forging, and others have wooden hilts. And they're not floating in the air from magnetism, but rather sitting in the air suspended. Something's wrong here._

"Really? As if I haven't seen anything like that before?"

"Merely a test."

"I take that back, you are an idiot like the others. Hurry up so I can restrain you and be done with this."

The girl wore a smug grin.

"We shall see."

* * *

Accelerator watched the girl unamused as she paced around him, looking for any openings while launching waves of her swords. As he waited for her to finish, he yawned in boredom as the 5th wave of swords descended upon him. It was a simple matter to redirect all the oncoming projectiles away from himself, the little brat, and the tanned brat. But what caught his attention was that as or before the swords impacted anything, they disintegrated into motes of blue light.

 _Interesting, what ability is she using? It's clear that she isn't an elektromeister, so what is she? Hm? Looks like she ran out of blades, but she doesn't look concerned at all. In fact she's nodding. Looks like she's come up with some hairbrained scheme. Time to crush whatever she's planning and drag her into treatment. I swear those idiotic girls need more self-preservation._

Pulling at his head, Accelerator cracked his neck a few times before rolling his shoulders.

"Well, are you done yet? If you are, it's time to drag you to a lab or hospital for treatment. A knife in your side can't be pleasant."

"Eh, I'll be fine, and so will you. I said I'd be gentle remember? Don't worry, your first time with me won't hurt at all."

The two sported derisive smiles towards each other, scoffing at each other's smug demenours. Only a small child sporting a tantrum cut into the mood.

"Stop this, Misaka yells as Misaka points at the pair of idiots she sees starting a pointless fight. Misaka thinks that all three of us should get food, because Misaka hypothesizes this uncomfortable feeling of hunger Misaka is currently feeling is shared and causing the others to be stupid, Misaka says as Misaka rubs Misaka's rumbling tummy in the hopes that no one notices that Misaka really hungry and briefly forgot her sister is bleeding."

In the periphery of their visions, they could see the little girl pouting with tears in here eyes. The two subtly nodded and agreed not to acknowledge her statement nor her existence for this bout. To do so would be to immediately lose to the power of her pouts and requests.

More swords immediately appeared in the air, surrounding Accelerator, his brow raising in disappointment.

"Don't worry, it's all part of the plan little boy. Trace… on."

Once more, beautiful swords of black and white materialized in her hands before she charged forward, the deluge of swords descending upon Accelerator from all sides. Standing still, he watched her charge with bored eyes, all the while reflecting the swords behind him. Unamused, he stood still as she swung her blades at him, only for them to disappear into motes of light long before they reached him.

"There, I won as gently as possible! See you later little boy!"

Winking, she ran by him and put the cloak once more over her head, disappearing from sight.

"Oh no you don't you-"

 _I can't move!_

Accelerator despite all of his efforts could not move his body save his eyes and mouth. Performing different calculations, and causing massive gusts to rage around him, showing he still could access vector manipulation, but he could not control his own body.

"What the **ACTUAL FUCK!** "

"Don't worry, Misaka says as Misaka runs around Accelerator in an attempt to calm down Accelerator and prove Misaka to be useful."

"Like you can help me here brat."

"Oh but Misaka can, says Misaka as Misaka explains to the enraged child. Your movements stopped after strange daggers created by the anomalous child was reflected and struck your shadow, Misaka recounts while trying to hypothesize how such a phenomenon is possible with the rest of the Misaka Network. All the Sisters are confused as well, Misaka says as Misaka adds briefly in an attempt to hide the growing fear and confusion all the Sisters are experiencing."

"Wait, daggers are embedded into my shadow? They didn't disappear like the others?"

"Nope, Misaka says as Misaka reports her attempts to pull one out to see if it frees the trapped Accelerator."

"Wait brat don't-"

"Ow, Misaka says as Misaka cut her hand pulling out one of the daggers!"

"Tsk, I tried to warn you idiot."

"I'm sorry, Misaka says as Misaka apologizes for making Accelerator concerned while grimacing in pain. Oh! The daggers are vanishing, Misaka says as Misaka flinches in pain from the cut."

Accelerator sighed in relief once he found himself able to move once more.

"Right then brat, which way did she go? You can still track her, right?"

"Of course Misaka says as Misa… ka..."

Accelerator turned around sharply once he heard the familiar thump of a body collapsing on the ground. He found the girl on the ground, her face was flush and she was panting.

 _A fever? Was the blade poisoned? Shit, and now that they're disintegrated I can't study them! Now the new sister disappeared, with the only means of tracking her laying on the ground. What's the best way forward?_

Accelerator glared at girl for a moment before picking her up.

"Best go back to the lab and have her checked. Maybe Yoshikawa could be useful for once."

As he flew through the air, Accelerator once again started hearing pointless bickering of couples so he deflected all sound away from himself again. So he never heard the cries of despair of a certain Amai Ao, who watched the two fly back towards the lab.

* * *

 _It would seem I was successful in shaking them off, seeing how I dissipated the black keys some time ago but they're not in hot pursuit._

The girl once known as EMIYA sat unseen at the back of one Academy City's automated garbage trucks as it made its rounds throughout the city.

 _Now would be a good time to trace some bandages to staunch the bleeding. It would seem that no one notices me either. Maybe that girl in the blanket was an anomaly?_

Shaking her head, she attempted to focus on tracing bandages, but became lightheaded during the process, making the bandages fail mid creation.

 _Tsk, blood loss plus hunger. Definitely not good. I'm losing the ability to focus. I need to hop off and get food after I bandage myself. I won't last much longer at this rate._

Closing her eyes, she once more focused herself, swallowing her pride she spoke.

"Trace… o-!"

She never finished the phrase, as the truck she was sitting on made a turn, hitting a bump on the road, and causing her to strike the back of her head on the rear of the truck, which promptly knocked her out and caused her to tumble onto the sidewalk, a pool of blood slowly forming around her.

* * *

Yamashita Miho was a first year student of Tokiwadai Middle School. Initially, she felt intimidated, entering a school of such rigorous standards that they would rather create an international incident than allow a member of European royalty that failed to meet their standards enroll.

Her power was one that initially seemed forgettable: She could modify the constitution and attribute of plants to a degree. Nothing drastic such as making them sentient, or altering their biology to use vines to lash at enemies. The most she could do was alter some of the base structure of the plant and modify some of the chemical components.

It wasn't until one day when she accidently modified a common weed to produce chemicals used in different forms of decongestants was her worth realized by Academy City's Pharmaceutical companies and research groups. So desperate for her potential to be realized, they funded her private tutors and anything possible for her attend Tokiwadai. Through much hardship, she was able to meet their expectations and eventually meet the idol of her life: the Queen of Tokiwadai, the 5th level five Esper, Mental Out. Quickly joining her faction, she learned how kind the Queen was to her followers as she eased them into learning the school's etiquette. Despite not being able to see her often, Miho felt welcomed and knew she could trust her upperclassmen, which will now be tested as she found a girl reminiscent of the other level 5, Mikoto on the ground bleeding near the entrance of the school. Pulling out her phone, she made the call.

 _Hokaze-senpai will know what to do._

* * *

 _What am I supposed to do about this?!_

Hokaze Junko ran (elegantly) as fast as she could to her new underclassman who sent out a distress text to her, only to find her over the bloody body of a girl stabbed in the side. Taking a deep breath, she first walked over to the panicking Miho and gave her a brief hug and a back rub to calm her down.

"There, there Yamashita-san, you did the right thing. Now tell me what happened."

"I… I don't know. I was walking to school early because a teacher needed my help in making an experimental flavor of tea, when this girl suddenly flew off a garbage truck!"

"I see, Yamashita-san, call an ambulance, I'll use some first aid as best as I can to treat her."

"Ok…"

"Hah… Hah… Hah… Junko, why did you run off so suddenly?"

Panting, a blonde haired girl with stars in her eyes staggered over to the scene, sweat glistening from her skin from the short run of two blocks away from the cafe she and Junko were visiting.

"We were supposed to be eating eclairs before…"

The Blonde girl stood silent, her eyes transfixed upon the bloodied girl laying on the street.

"Ah, I'm sorry my Queen! But Yamashita-san here found herself in a predicament. I know it's hard to look at, bu-"

Both Junko and Miho suddenly froze, their eyes glazed over after the blonde haired girl pointed a remote control at them.

"Miho, cover this child with that cloak, with special attention to cover her face. Then, call an ambulance from this hospital and ONLY this hospital. Junko, leave and make arrangements for me to meet with Mikoto for an emergency situation, bring her here if possible. I need to speak with her immediately after this. The two of you will forget the appearance of this child nor will you speak about this incident without my presence."

"Understood my Queen." The pair spoke monotonously as they carried off their tasks.

 _To think those false memories of hosting an orientation for the new students would pay off so soon. Oh Miho, I'll have to give you a present for being such a good follower!_

 _As for you, little sister of Dolly, don't worry, I'll take good care of you._

 _I promise._

* * *

Author's Notes

Heya peeps! I have a bit to talk about this time around.

First, can you guys please stop using the reviews as a forum to discuss Fate x Index mechanics? If you guys want I'll create an account in SpaceBattles or Sufficient Velocity and make a thread so we can continue this discussion.

Although I will admit I accidentally opened that can of worms when talked about my views last author notes, but it was to alleviate the fears that I would make this a "Fate stomping on index fic", which I hope I have shown that it will not.

I will say I was mildly annoyed when some of the reviews were criticizing what I wrote about the strength of the Majin. Granted, I wrote in a roundabout way to prevent their full powers from being understood by people who haven't reached that point yet, but seeing how some of you decided to ignore my request of using aliases or metaphors so we wouldn't spoil those still behind, I'll be blunt here.

Magic Gods when they aren't trying to warp reality and break the world and are restraining themselves, fight at the level of heroic spirits, except for the weakest magic gods who fight as the level of top tier Grand Servants based on my recollections of reading the NT novels.

AKA when Magic gods are really really holding back they fight at the same strength as some of the most powerful beings in the Nasuverse.

There are probably some other stuff I need to clarify too, but that one was the most frequent.

But I digress, if you guys want me to make a thread on either SB or SV to continue talking about this kind of stuff and how it could affect the story, I'll make a poll by the next chapter for you guys to vote.

As for why I'm making a big deal about this, it's getting hard for me to read reviews and criticisms about what I'm writing as they are getting buried in the walls of text about world mechanics. Both me and my editor are getting frustrated by this.

Right, I remember one person complaining about the magic name I used for Arno. To put it simply, yeah you raised some good points. When I originally wrote the chapter, I put in hints about how distorted Arno was compared to regular people, but it was lost when my editor helped me fix the flow of the chapter.

I didn't realize the hints were gone until you pointed out how unfitting the name currently was. Pretty much, I painted Arno as a well meaning person, who was distorted as Vento of the Front when it came to how they viewed the world. Arno is a hypocrite who cannot understand he's a hypocrite. He believes he's fighting for redeeming his mother when in reality he's fighting for vengeance. I was thinking about expanding his story out, but my editor pointed out it would come at the expense of the main story, which isn't ideal. As for why I don't just edit out the magic name and replace it with Vindicto, well, that's because it belongs to a different magician who is coming later in the story of whom I find more likable. A cool girl like that deserves a cool name.

Lastly, writing LAST ORDER's dialogue was a nightmare, as for whatever reason, it inverts my flaws, as my editor can attest. Hopefully I did it right as when I was watching the anime and reading the books there were different styles used to express her verbal tics. God it was a pain to write.

* * *

Editor's Notes:

Jesus. Fucking. Christ. The amount of revisions on this chapter in relation to the time I'm editing this at is not healthy for the body. There's like, a fuck ton of edits per page (is too tired to rationalize amounts), many of which were fixing LAST ORDER's vocal tics, REPLACING EVERY PUNCTUATION POINT THAT WASN'T A COMA WITH A COMA (unless it was the end of her quote of course).

In other news, Kovaras needs to remember how to spell his character's names, although I make the same mistake when it comes down to any name with -shita at the end. BUT AT LEAST FIX IT WHEN YOU SEE IT BECAUSE SEEING THE SAME NAME SPELT WRONG _**THREE TIMES**_ IS PRETTY AGGRAVATING. Doing things at one in the morning is fun, I swear. Also, this man's writing style makes Accelerator sound polite. Like, what?

Now, because I'm editing this at one in the morning, I may have missed some things and for that I am terribly sorry (not sorry) and will commit swimpukku. But hey. It's readable at least.

Editor-san-kun-chan-sama-dewanai-shimashita is now flopping onto his bed, out cold and wanting to die.

* * *

Author's response:

As much as I hate to break it to you mate, the first time you saw the name it was spelt wrong, the others were correct, but meh, OC character. We can change the name however we please.


	4. Fakers can dream

*Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…*

 _Ugh… by the swirl of the Root, what happened?_

The girl once known as EMIYA wearily opened her eyes to find herself in a room painted in white, with various medical equipment surrounding her bed.

 _Hm… seeing how I'm not restrained, I think it is safe to assume I haven't been captured by some nefarious power. The equipment here looks more advanced than what was available when I died the first time in my past life. These IVs are still a pain though._

Struggling to sit up, she contemplated removing the electrodes off her chest when a nurse walked into her room. The girl once known as EMIYA froze in surprise while the nurse smiled welcomingly.

"It is good to see that you are finally awake! The doctor will be in momentarily."

"Uh miss, what is going on?"

"Ah, that's right, your friend said you'd have memory issues when you awoke. Don't worry, the doctor will explain everything once he arrives. But while we wait, do you mind answering some health questions? On a scale of one to ten, how do…"

Mechanically, the girl answered all of the nurses questions. Standard fare that the former faker saw no need to deceive the woman about. The questionnaire continued on for almost 20 minutes until the nurse, thanking the girl for her cooperation walked out of the room to fetch the doctor.

It was a tedious wait. The girl knew from the clock above the door that 30 minutes had passed. Pacing the room, the girl finally decided to look out the locked window and gaze upon the new world she found herself in.

 _What an impressive city... Automated robots to clean the streets, solar panels and wind generators are abundant, an ideal of what so many progressives and environmentalists strove for in my past life. A pity that such beautiful city is nothing more than a facade for the darkside of human "evolution"._

Lost in introspection, the girl was startled when someone began knocking on her door. Startled to the point where she jumped and inadvertently knocked over the IV stand and some of the other medical equipment for measuring heart rate and blood pressure.

Hearing the resulting crash, a certain frog-faced doctor swung open the door in a panic, only to find a tanned girl standing next to the fallen equipment, blushing furiously in embarrassment.

"Well well well, I didn't expect a sister to be so skittish. Don't worry, I doubt all this equipment would be irreparable from a simple fall. Why not you just have a seat on the bed while we talk?"

Nodding, the girl sheepishly shuffled back to the bed and sat down.

 _Why did I lose my composure so easily? Wait, he called me a sister…_

"A sister?"

"Ah, you don't know what you are? I see. Tell me, what do you know? Its ok to omit things you aren't comfortable sharing with me, I just need a baseline to work with before I start explaining anything to you."

Staring into the doctor's eyes, the girl once known as Emiya compared it to countless others she knew in her past life.

 _No signs of deception. He has the same eyes as the doctors without borders. This one will not willingly betray me. Perhaps his superiors will, but not himself._

"Nothing. I was created by some scientists who had their experiment hijacked by someone else. The hijacker bragged about how he modified me to punish the fools who tried to create me before setting me free. I was discovered by other researchers of the project who attempted to capture me before turning on each other. The survivor gave me a cloak and told me to escape. A few hours later I was attacked by another group pursuing me before I escaped on a garbage truck. Anything after that I cannot remember."

"I see, and how many days was it between your creation and your escape."

"A few hours."

"Hm? You mean to tell me you were taught how to speak and perform complex tasks while your brain was being developed? Perhaps you pillaged that knowledge from the network without the network realizing...?"

"Network?"

"Hmmmm… you truly know next to nothing. Do you at least know where you are, Academy City?"

The girl furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Academy City?"

"I see… we have much to discuss young one."

* * *

"That… is a lot to take in."

"Indeed, but at least know you have the basics to work with."

"So what now? I'm a modified clone with no paper trail. I doubt I can stay here with the other sisters since I am not a part of the network, and my mere presence will draw the darkness of this city to your hospital."

"You can stay here for now, as even those drenched in the darkness of this city would hesitate to storm through here. After all, the name they gave me is the Heaven's Canceller. As long as someone reaches me alive, I will save them, regardless of the will of 'heaven'. My hospital is one of the few truly neutral areas respected by all the powers in the city. Your pursuers will think twice before attempting to storm this hospital."

"Yes, but they will not wait indefinitely. If I stay here too long I will put your other patients at risk. Is there anyplace I can run to? To stay out of sight until I can gather my bearings?"

"I do know of a few options you can take young one, but before that you may wish to consult with your benefactor."

"My benefactor?"

"Yes, when you lost consciousness from hitting your head from what I assume was the garbage truck, a girl of significant power went to great lengths to ensure you arrived here safely and outside the gaze of other groups that would use you for their own purposes. She asked to be informed when you awoke so she could talk to you herself. She'll be here in a few hours, unless of course you don't wish to speak with her."

"No, that's fine. I'll hear what she has to say. What is she like?"

"From what I saw? A mischievous middle school girl that is protective of those she cares about."

"Middle school?"

"This is Academy City remember? Power means so much that even a youth can wield considerable influence."

"I see…"

"Well, seeing how you have agreed to see her, is there anything else I can do for you besides provide a meal once evening comes around?"

"Do you have a book for me to read? I'd like to learn more about the world around me."

Smiling, the frog-faced doctor nodded.

"Of course, all too often students leave their textbooks behind after visiting. I'll grab a few for you to read."

"Thanks."

Walking out of the room, the doctor turned to face the girl once more.

"Oh, and do stay in this room. Some of your sisters currently reside here as part of their treatments to become their own selves. I know you are apprehensive about approaching them, so I won't inform them of your presence. Once you are ready, let me know and I'll give you a formal introduction."

The girl's eyes widened briefly before nodding.

"Thanks Doctor, I'll take you up on that offer when I'm ready."

 _Sisters huh…_

* * *

The next few hours passed peacefully for the girl, laying in bed she read various history textbooks, trying to find all traceable deviations from the timelines she was familiar with.

She found too many.

 _By the swirl of the Root, just what madness makes up the foundation of this damn world?_

 _America in this timeline is so prosperous that a Hollywood Movie director had the funding to_ _ **create an artificial island**_ _as a_ _ **single use prop**_ _for a movie, which was then converted into a tourist attraction only because it was_ _ **too troublesome to dismantle**_ _._

 _Some of the African wars I fought in as EMIYA never happened, because the involved tribes died in_ _ **previous wars**_ _that never existed in the timelines I visited. Fuyuki city was never founded, several cities in the Middle East have different names. There are even different countries that exist in Eastern Europe and in Central Asia at Russia's expense!_

 _And apparently, due to some Royal having an extra sibling in the distant past in Britain, we have Queen Elizard with three daughters instead of usual Queen Elizabeth II._

 _The line of American presidents changed after World War II, I recognize none of the recent popes in the history of Rome, and that massive tower in the city is a_ _ **Space Elevator**_ _nearing completion._

 _And in the background of all of this are_ _ **multiple magical organizations**_ _who share the same selfishness as the Magic Association but with less maturity and far more power… How the_ _ **HELL**_ _have they not been revealed to the general public in the age of the Internet?_

Pinching the bridge of her nose, the girl futilely tried to stave off the coming headache after trying to understand norms of her new world.

Her attempts at meditation were interrupted by a light knock on her door. Shaking her head, the girl focused on the door. Taking a breath to calm herself, she spoke in an even tone.

"Come in!"

Hesitantly, the door knob turned and the door opened, revealing a young girl with luxurious blonde hair, and gold-colored eyes with stars in her pupils to boot. She wore the uniform of a certain prestigious middle school with white stockings and and opera gloves adorned with laces.

She walked gingerly into the room, her air and mannerisms reminiscent of Illya, an elegant immaturity that belies a cunning mind. But for all of her cutesy poses, she failed to hide the apprehension in her eyes.

"Hello there! My name is Shokuhou Misaki! It's a pleasure to finally talk to you little sister!"

"A pleasure Shokuhou-san. Thank you for bringing me here, it was nice having a safe place to sleep for once."

Almost imperceivable, Misaki's eyes twitched in concern before settling into a more neutral tone. Easing away from her previous act, she became more solemn as walked towards the girl, genting patting her head.

"I see, you've had it rough, haven't you? Well don't worry, I'll take care of you."

"But why? I don't know you."

"Ha… it will be better to explain with my power than with words."

Reaching into her purse, Misaki pulled out a remote control.

"My esper power is mental manipulation, it will be easier for us to understand each other if we directly share the information."

"Mental manipulation? Wait-"

With a press of a button, the two girls collapsed upon the bed unmoving.

* * *

"Ow… what just happened?"

Clutching her head, Misaki pushed herself off the dusty ground, the rusty grinding of gears echoing in the distance. Opening her eyes, she found herself in an empty world, surrounded by swords.

"What… where am I?"

Looking around for any signs of life, she saw a man standing alone atop a hill in the distance, his back facing towards her and his body from the neck down was distorted, as if it were merely a mirage. Cautiously, she walked towards him, his stiff form projecting an aura of stillness like the swords surrounding him. When she finally approached him, he spoke, with his back still turned against her.

"Hoh? I didn't expect this to happen. How is it that you entered my world, little girl?"

 _A personality construct? He feels similar to the tanned sister but even more incomplete. Are we in her mind somehow?_

"I don't know, I was originally just going to take a peek at that adorable tanned sister's memories to find any clues as to what happened to her sisters as well as prove that I'm not her enemy. A more important question is why are _**you**_ here? Did you make this place inside of her mind?"

"I see no reason to answer that. In fact, I'd rather remove you from here."

Raising his hand, countless swords uprooted themselves and launched themselves towards Misaki. In a panic, she looked around her, desperately searching for anything that could shield her from the coming storm of steel

 _I can't dodge any of those! Even if I actually bothered to attend gym class I wouldn't be able to avoid this! Wait, this is a mental scape so if I focus enough…_

Closing her eyes, she ignored man before her and taking a deep breath she focused on her desired command.

 _Stop and return to your original positions._

The blades paused mid-air, before turning about face and flinging themselves to their original positions. Shocked, the tanned man finally turned to face the girl that usurped control of his own realm from him, only to be greeted by her smug grin.

 _Heh, trying to beat me in the battle of the mind? How stupid. Still, I must admit, he doesn't look bad, especially with that confused look on his face! Hmm… their appearances are so similar one could say he's related to this sister... perhaps his genes were used to modify her? But that wouldn't explain how he would create such an odd mental space that could draw me in, or why a separate personality is in here to begin with._

"Now now, you should try to be more polite to guests! You social skills ability is abysmally low you know!"

"How… how did you...?"

"I see no reason to answer that."

"Cheeky. Well then, let's see if this works."

The man disappeared before her very eyes, only to reappear mere inches from her, fist swinging towards her stomach…

 _Don't hurt me!_

Only for him to stop barely a centimeter from her flesh

"Tsk, same level as a command seal."

"Command seal?"

"..."

Smiling, Misaki walked around the immobilized man and upon reaching his spot upon the top of the hill, twirled and crossed her arms. The man cringed at the smile she beamed while she looked down upon him. Both knew who held the advantage in this world.

"So then Mr. Rude Host, answer my questions truthfully. Who are you and why are you inside this sister's mind?"

Pausing, the man closed his eyes, wracking his mind for anyway to resist the command, before sighing, the tone of his voice bitter.

"Emiya Shirou… a failed Hero of Justice. A man who only wanted to help others, but only succeeded in doing the opposite. A terrorist that the world framed for a crime and was hung for."

"Hm? So you're dead?"

"Yes, have been for a long time."

"Huh, that explains the high obsolete power of your clothes and armor. Academy City stopped using that kind of composite material decades ago."

EMIYA cringed at revelation. When he died in what would be considered 20 years in the future in this timeline, his beloved armor was considered top of the line, the leading edge of metallurgy. To hear that it was already considered useless in this timeline was… disheartening.

"So, let me ask again failed Hero, why are you inside this sister?"

"I don't know. Whoever created this sister plundered me from my own personal hell and put me in here. It used me and this body for a purpose, then cut us free afterwards. I've been on the run ever since."

Furrowing her brow, Misaki stared at the man before sighing.

"Very well, it seems like you really don't know. Show me what happened."

"Be more specific."

"Tsk, you really do have low social skills ability. Show me what happened two days ago."

Smirking, EMIYA nodded and closed his eyes.

"As you wish."

Multiple swords uprooted themselves and flew towards the pair, embedding themselves between the two. Initially, Misaki looked at the main in disbelief, before slowly approaching the blades.

 _Why would he summon swords to obey that order? How does that show me the memories? Unless… he visualizes the memories as swords themselves. Is he some sort of sword fanatic?_

Touching one of the blades, Misaki was immediately assaulted with images of the man, raging and crying as his body ignored his will, as he cut down children in an orphanage. Victims of an experiment for immortality gone horribly awry. But in the horror of the scene, information was still passed.

It was the date she requested.

Queasy, she jerked her hand away from the blade, only to stumble forward and grab the hilt of another. Once more, she was assaulted by horrific memories.

Memories of losing control of his body, becoming an unwilling witness to his body being forced to burn down a village which had been contaminated by a bio weapon experiment gone wrong. It was clear that some could have been saved, as they were away from the center of the infection. But the orders were absolute. Despite every fiber of his being resisting, he was forced to watch himself as he ruthlessly cut down the elderly, women and children once more.

It was the date she requested.

Stumbling back, Misaki collapsed upon the ground, dry heaving.

"What… What was that?"

Smiling, EMIYA shrugged his shoulders in mock confusion.

"The information you requested. This is what happened two days ago."

 _You never specified which timeline._

"Impossible! I found the girl bleeding on the ground two days ago. You could not have been in both of those places and in this girl at the same time!"

"And yet I did not lie. You've ordered my honesty remember?"

"Tsk, how annoying. Perhaps I'll just look inside you myself."

"If that is what you desire. I wish you the _best_ of luck."

Narrowing her eyes, Misaki materialized her familiar remote control and pressed it after aiming it towards his face. Diving in, she saw _**eons**_ of memories. Shocked, she willed the data to be organized by date, only to see a complete repeat of the swords earlier. Every moment, every date in his memories had _**centuries**_ worth of events overlapping each other. Misaki then attempted to organize it by location, but once more events overlapped and contradicted each other.

Sighing in irritation, she withdrew from his memories only to be greeted by his insufferable smirk. Pouting, she glared at the man.

"Not fair! Your contradiction power is way too high!"

 _Still, how odd. It did not feel like I was manipulating another full personality, rather just diving deeper into the base mechanics of a mind._ _ **What is he?**_

"It would seem that your position isn't as absolute as you initially believed it to be, little miss. If I cannot oppose you, I can merely shift around information to obstruct all of your commands. You can find whatever you desire from me, _**eventually**_. But do you really want to spend _**years**_ of your life doing this?"

Scowling, Misaki crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Briefly tapping her forehead, she once more opened her eyes and darkly stared into his steel colored eyes.

"So you wish to **negotiate**. But I'll be blunt here I _**cannot**_ trust anyone I cannot see into. And you will not trust me enough to view the information I desire because you cannot trust someone who's power can manipulate the mind, am I correct?"

EMIYA's smirk faded as he adopted a stern facade.

"Almost. There is one way for you to gain my trust. However, it will require you to allow me to use my abilities on you. I'll allow restrictions such as not using it to harm you and the like if it makes you more comfortable."

"Hmph, alright. Do it."

"Trace… on!"

Raising his right arm, a blade materialized into his hand. It was an old short sword, lovingly forged, whose hilt was adorned with ancient celtic runes. Dashing forward, EMIYA grabbed Misaki and held the blade to her throat.

"What is the name of your secret crush you'd never wish to be revealed to the public?"

"Kamijou Touma."

Misaki's eye widened in shock.

 _Wait what?! I didn't want to say that out loud! And why can't I move?! How did he-_

EMIYA smiled at the girls confusion.

 _As I suspected, she's inexperienced when dealing with surprises. I can't give her time to organize her thoughts, I need to get all the answers I need before she can stop me._

"What is your intentions towards the child I inhabit."

"To protect her."

"Why?"

"She is the little sister to my best friend, and one of the few clues to finding her."

"Will you seek revenge and to harm this child after this questioning."

"Yes and no, although it depends on how much more you humiliate me."

"As it stands right now?"

"I will find a way to embarrass you and post it all over the internet."

"I can live with that. Last question, if I were to cooperate with you, can I trust you to not abuse your powers over me?"

"Mostly. I'll still need to prank you for revenge. Your punishment will be mitigated by how cooperative you are."

Closing his eyes, EMIYA took a deep breath and dismissed the blade into blue motes of light.

* * *

In the original Irish and Celtic legends, the sword Fragarach bore three names: Fragarach the Whisperer, Fragarach the Retaliator, and Fragarach the Answerer, with each title representing a different aspect of the blade as well as different powers. As time passed, one sword became three noble phantasms, with only the Fraga clan retaining the "Retaliator" aspect with the ability to reverse time and destiny to slay its opponent when they used their ultimate attack, while the other noble phantasms were lost to the mists of time.

Throughout EMIYA's service throughout space and time, he once fought during the Ulster cycle, slaying a mad druid and his cult from unravelling the tapestry of time, with the tarnished and disgraced blade used as a reagent. After seeing the sword, it was like several others entered within the Unlimited Blade Works, but in its original pristine state. But the blade would deny the Counter Guardian. Save for its passive ability of immobilizing and forcing the truth out of anyone when its blade is held to one's throat, EMIYA lacked the correct sorcery trait to access its other powers.

Yet EMIYA never had a need for the blade. What use is the ultimate blade of interrogation in the mass executions that are his duties as a Counter Guardian? Or in the Grail wars, which he has repeated endlessly to the point where he knew all its nuances by heart? So it sat for eons, next to useless to EMIYA, only for its worth to finally be realized when he was no longer that man…

* * *

 _Hmm… what high absurdity levels this man has lived with… the occult? Pff… But the powers were real. In the past, if gemstones manifested, they could have easily been confused for the occult. It would make sense that powers could be passed down through genetics. After all, the Sisters inherited the original's powers albeit at a weaker state._

 _Still, this is concerning. There are organizations outside of Academy City that will pursue this child once they realize one of their most famous altruistic terrorists has been effectively merged into a girl of an opposing faction. According to his memories, the Japanese government used him as a scapegoat for their blotched handling of a nuclear power plant incident and then covered up the existence of the incident later. What a high absurdity level indeed._

 _But more importantly, what is this "Alaya"? Truly a cruel system of using others. Binding them in one area to make copies to use elsewhere and have the memories return to the original. Sort of like a game company that distributes multiple copies of a game, then harvests the data from the various copies to update the original._

"EMIYA, can you describe this 'Alaya'? I don't understand the interactions you have had with it from your memories."

"It cannot be explained with words. The closest analogy would be the Misaka network, but far more powerful and overbearing."

 _A network of dead gemstones that can be copied and replicated to complete various tasks...? Perhaps this is the inspiration that formed the basis for the level 6 shift experiment? It would seem the darkside of Academy City isn't the only threat to worry about once I find Dolly._

 _Still, something is off about EMIYA… its almost as if he… Ah, I see._

"Who **are** you? Not who were you in the past. What is your name today?"

"My name is… is... "

EMIYA froze at the question, his form becoming ever more unstable.

"I see, that's why you seemed so odd to me, so incomplete. You are not the sister. You are her instincts. If normal people have flight or flight, their primitive instincts to push them forward to survive, the girl has you instead. Whoever made you somehow placed an entire person with a plethora of experience as the core, her brainstem if we are talking from a physical standpoint."

Nodding, she walked forward and reached forward to touch EMIYA, only for his form to shift and part like the morning fog.

"Once you have a means to define yourself, you will fade into the recesses of this child's mind. Would you be content with that?"

EMIYA smiled self-derisively towards the fading light of his reality marble.

"Of course. The last thing the world needs is **another** me."

Misaki smiled wistfully at the fading man. Even now, he would not be saved.

"Such high selfish ability! How can I get my revenge on you after you fade away?"

"Hmph, how about this? You can name what I'm to become. It can be as absurd as you desire."

Misaki glared at the mocking smile of the fading man.

"You know I can't do that! Dolly would be mad at me if I bullied her sister like that!"

"Heh, your problem, not mine."

EMIYA's form distorted and faded away, and with it, the world cracked and fell apart, tossing Misaki into the whiteness of the void.

* * *

"Ugh… what a bothersome event…"

Misaki slowly pushed herself up from the bed, only to be met with the stare of the tanned steel eyed girl. Out of curiosity Misaki pointed her remote at the girl and pressed the button once more.

 _Ugh, why is Misaki trying to get in again? I thought she found my 'social skills ability too low'._

 _And I just read your mind._

 _Eh?!_

 _Hmm… it looks like I can read you like a normal person now. Not like that absurd power you had earlier. Ooooooo, I can give you memories of me being your beloved older sister figure that you almost worship!_

… _really? Are you really going to do that to me?_

 _Maybe~_

 _Sigh…_

 _Hehe, much better! But let's talk out loud now, if anyone is observing us it must look like we are staring into each others eyes, lovingly. Unless of course you want to look at me a bit more. I mean, I know I have quite a high beauty ability!_

 _No._

 _Aw, how mean! Hehe._

Smiling, Misaki closed her eyes and stood up, holding her hands between her back.

"Hmm… what to name you… Ah, I know! How about Misaka Sayume? Sounds good right?"

Pulling a piece of paper from her purse, she scribbled down the kanji for the new name.

"Blooming Dream… not bad. Which one of your followers came up with that one?."

"What do you mean! I came up with that one!"

"Really? You didn't arrive here 3 hours after your school ended to go online and pester your followers to make new names for a baby girl?"

"Eh!? How did you…?!"

"I didn't, just based on what I've seen of you so far I merely assumed as much. What were the other names they threw out?"

Pouting, Misaki ineffectively glared at Sayume before sighing.

"Rin, Sakura, Ritsuka, Ayume, and Iroha were the most popular ones."

Although Sayume's expression distorted upon hearing the first two, the last one caught her ear.

"Hmm… I actually like Iroha. I might take that one later."

"For a code name?"

"Something like that."

Nodding, Misaki smiled before adopting a more serious expression.

"So Sayume, what do you want to do from here? If you want, you can hide in one of the facilities I control. You should be safe there. Or if you want, I might be able to pull some strings and have you attend school."

Closing her eyes, Sayume sat in silence, contemplating her options.

 _If I want to prioritize hiding, then going to one of the facilities would be the best bet. But will I be safe in the long run? Nothing can stay hidden forever, and there is only so much I can do training by myself. Eventually, I will be revealed to the world, and once that happens I'll be pursued on all fronts. But what would he do? What would the man that was once me do? Create a weakness, define the terms of his defeat, and then counter attack anything that would go for that weakness. If I go to school, I can control how they define me. I will be a target for the darkness of Academy City, but not of the Magicians._

Opening her eyes, she looked at her troublesome benefactor once more.

 _Besides, this time I won't be alone._

"I think I'll go to school. There's much I need to learn after all."

"Oh? You want to follow your wonderful older sister already?"

"On second thought, maybe not."

"How rude!"

Giggling, Sayume smiled.

"So, when do I start?"

* * *

Author's notes

This chapter was really hard to write. I lacked a lot of inspiration for this story lately so I focused on Shackles for a bit.

That, and I've been sick often. Like coughing up blood sick. Just came back from the Doctor today. Apparently I need to have X-rays tomorrow to see what's wrong with my respiratory system. Oh, and I wanted to make a forum to debate index and fate mechanics but I don't know where that would fall under in SB and SV. I kinda get anxiety attacks posting anything there ever since I got dogpiled and yelled at by Mods for making noob mistakes. Probably going to need someone to walk me through it or something if you guys still want a thread.

Oh and only a few of you noticed, but I put a poll up on my author's page. Pretty much, if I'm lacking inspiration to write any of my current stories, what would you guys want me to work on?

Of course my current stuff will take priority.

* * *

Editor's Notes:

So, first off, to the users that questioned why I said swimpukku, you obviously have never watched 50% Off. Regardless, the editing for this wasn't too too bad, but bad nonetheless. At around page 16 when we were in call and finished the last four pages, I did some spicy real time editing, much to Kovaras' belligerent gratitude. While I was the one that came up with Sayume (and the mention of correct kanji pairing), Iroha really caught my eye when our local Gil-Aqua mentioned it. Whoever came up with it, I tip my hat to you (I also came up with the idea of making said name a code name or some other thing of sorts).

Anyways, end my life. *proceeds to search for food*


	5. Sisters, Sisters, and Sisters

Closing her eyes, Sayume, the child that was forged from the integration of EMIYA and the remnants of the Sisters, took a deep breath. Looking inwards, she searched for her world, the reflection of her soul. Instinctively, she felt it respond to her calls, but instead of the familiar hills of dust and swords, all she saw was twilight and mist.

 _Strange… I can access the weapons and armor I've seen during my time as EMIYA, but the reality marble itself eludes me. I suppose it makes sense, since I am no longer the counter guardian EMIYA, but instead a fragmented, alternate version of him born from whatever "Truth" did to me and those Sisters. Tsk, I suppose I'll need to find a new aria to reflect this new reality marble. What a nuisance._

Sighing, Sayume opened her eyes and began pacing her hospital room.

 _Misaki said it would take only a couple of days to arrange for me to live in her school's dorm after she enrolled me. Initially, for this hospital's safety, I wanted to leave and stay with her immediately, but Misaki immediately shot it down. She didn't want to risk offending the dorm manager…_

 _How formidable can a woman be to intimidate a mind controlling esper into obeying the rules? Oh well, I suspect Misaki's immaturity would have worn on my nerves, so I might as well enjoy the serenity of the hospital while I can. This is my last day here after all._

Such an innocent desire was immediately struck down, for how can one even be an EMIYA if one has a greater luck rank than "E"?

Sayume cringed as a familiar voice called out in joy after the door to Sayume's room was slammed open.

"Hello patient! Do you want to have fun, Misaka exclaims as Misaka barges into the hospital room unannounced with her eyes closed in anticipation!"

 _Shit._

Sayume could only stare dumbfounded at the sight of the familiar small girl. Glancing around, she desperately searched for anything to hide behind.

 _Maybe if I hide behind something she'll think the room is empty and leave? But there is nothing large enough to hide behind! Tsk, if only this bed had something to cover the space beneath it!_

Shifting her gaze towards the window, Sayume silently edged towards the window.

 _The window isn't locked. It will make for a viable escape route should that albino esper arrive as well. Tsk, the doctor underestimated how long my pursuers will wait…_

Subtly, Sayume reached behind her, her back facing the window as she slowly opened it behind her.

"Is no one here, Misaka asks as Misaka opens her ey-"

LAST ORDER never finished her sentence, as the two stared into each others eyes, betraying mutual confusion and panic.

* * *

"Tsk, you sure are insistent. Annoying woman."

"And yet you still visit me regularly."

"Nothing else to do. You're the least shittiest adult I know."

"Heh, is that so?"

Irritated, Accelerator closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before scowling at the smiling woman sitting up on the hospital bed. Unperturbed, Yoshikawa Kikyou merely smiled at her grouchy visitor.

"So you'll continue to live in that ruined apartment? Do you honestly believe that will be a good place for LAST ORDER to stay?"

"And why would that shitty brat want to be with me?"

"Hmm… I don't know, maybe because a certain esper chose to take the hard path to save her life at great risk to himself. You do realize that even though Amai's virus immobilized her, she was still aware of what was happening?"

"Tsk."

"Besides, if you move in with my friend you wouldn't have to worry about vandals as often. Even hooligans and idiots tend to avoid directly antagonizing anti-skill."

"And why not just take us in yourself?"

 _Her smirk is becoming insufferable…_

"I was a researcher of the level 6 shift project. **Was.** As in unemployed and about to be homeless myself, so I'll be living with her as well. Besides, even you would agree that a teacher would be a better influence on her than either me or you."

"Hmph. And what kind of idiot would take an injured, unemployed woman, a child with no paperwork, and a monster into her home?"

"My friend. Who already agreed. The only one yet to say yes is you."

A tense silence ensued as Accelerator narrowed his eyes and glared at Kikyo, who calmly met his gaze with a small smile. Neither spoke a word, until eventually, Accelerator growled in frustration and averted his eyes.

" **Fine** , if only to end your constant nagging."

"Heh, I knew you'd see reason eventually."

"Where is the shitty brat anyways?"

"I thought you would know. After she recovered, she leapt in joy hearing you'd visit us today and ran out to greet you. You didn't run into her?"

"No."

"I see, she must have gotten side tracked again. I'd look for her, but…"

Motioning to her abdomen, Accelerator noticed the thick layers of bandages holding her together still. Sighing in annoyance, Accelerator turned around and walked out of the room.

 _He's become surprisingly obedient if you can ignore his bark. Well, I suppose I'll take a nap while I'm waiting for them to return. Knowing that girl, she's probably running amok in the hospital._

Closing her eyes, Yoshikawa Kikyou closed her eyes, dreaming of the night that changed everything.

* * *

"Yoshikawa, prepare an incubator for a small brat."

"Hm? Accelerator?!"

Kikyou's eyes eyes widened in shock as Accelerator blasted down the door, the sounds of metal ringing and screeching as it bounced and slid to a halt.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Yes."

Sighing in annoyance Kikyou's eyes drifted to the wrapped bundled carried on his shoulder. Her eyes widened upon noticing a certain miniature clone wrapped in a tattered blanket.

"Impressive Accelerator, you learned of Amai's plot and already moved to foil it ."

"Hah? What are you talking about? He's involved with that tanned clone?"

"... Tanned clone?"

Kikyou's brow raised in confusion. After a moment of awkward silence, she sighed and walked to her desk. Turning on her computer and striking a few keys, the dimly lit lab whirled back into life, with a large pod opening nearby.

"For now, put her in here. I'll begin treatment while we talk."

Scowling, Accelerator dropped the girl into the incubation pod, before ripping off the tattered blanket and flinging it across the room

"Oh, can you put the door back into place? We **are** dealing with cloning tech. It would be problematic if any random passerby looked in and saw what we are doing.

"How annoying."

"Don't complain to me, you're the one that broke it."

Scowling, Accelerator stomped on the floor, flinging the door back into the frame with such force it became embedded into it. Cringing at the sound of scraping metal, Kikyou paused for a moment before continuing her work, not once looking away from the computer.

"So what's this about a tanned clone Accelerator?"

"You first."

"Fine, but I expect you not to hold back anything about that clone."

"Whatever. Just tell me what the hell is going on."

* * *

"Tsk, how annoying. There are multiple parties at work here."

"Indeed. To think there is a branch of the level 6 shift project continuing independently... Or was at least."

"Was?"

"Yes, a couple of days ago there was a massive confrontation in district 19. Anti skill and several unknown armed groups and espers clashed. It was a chaotic melee from what I understand. Initially I thought it was a battle between agents of the Science Association and Academy City, but now…"

"It might have been a clash to steal the materials from this rogue branch of the level 6 shift, with that clone being the prize."

"Yes. Thankfully though, we no longer have to worry about Amai's virus. I've already started LAST ORDER's treatment, so she should be well enough to help you in a day or so. She won't be able to leave the incubation pod for long though, since she still needs adjustments to survive in the outside world for an extended period of time."

"Whatever, I'm heading out."

"Hm? What for?"

"To look for the missing clone."

"Without LAST ORDER?"

"Nothing better to do."

"Alright then, pass me your cell though."

"And why would I do that?"

"So I can add you to contacts. You **do** want me to message you when LAST ORDER recovers don't you?"

Sighing in annoyance, Accelerator reached into his pocket and tossed over his phone. Catching it, Kikyou quickly entered the information before casually tossing it back to Accelerator.

 _Right, time to get to work!_

No words were needed as Accelerator walked towards the back of the lab while Kikyou stretched her arms. Glancing at his fading back, she frowned.

 _Going through the back so he doesn't have to deal with the barely propped up door he wrecked? Well, I hope it won't be deducted from my pay. I don't have much to work with as is._

Hours passed monotonously, with Kikyou typing tirelessly into the computer, monitoring and adjusting the anti-virus program to purge Amai's handiwork from the young child. As the moon rose high in the night, Kikyou glanced at the time.

 _Just a couple of hours until midnight… The virus has almost been completely purged. LAST ORDER should be good to leave the pod for short periods by tomorrow morning._

Standing up, she stretched and rolled her neck, walking towards the entrance to the lab to glance out the window. Only to see a familiar car and disheveled hair getting out.

 _Amai! I need to lock the…._

Kikyou's eyes widened in horror as she glanced at the ruined door.

 _Oh… That's not good._

Running back to her desk, she pulled her phone out of the drawer and frantically sent a text. She barely had enough time to slip it into her pocket before a gentle thump of a body ramming a door and the resounding thud of a door collapsing

 _Shit! Where's the pistol? Ah there-_

A sharp pain in her abdomen interrupted her thoughts before she collapsed into the ground. Grabbing her sides, she glanced down to see her hands stained in blood. Twisting her body, she turned to see a desperate man grinning maniacally.

"Hah… hah… There's still time! I can still fix this!"

"Amai, you-"

"Shut up!"

Striding up to her, he swiftly kicked her gunshot wound before promptly stomping on her face.

"And stay down! You might actually get to live that way!"

She could glare in frustration as she watched Amai abort the program and eject LAST ORDER from the incubation pod. Her glare soon shifted to mounting despair as she watched him fire rounds into not only the computer, but the incubation pod.

 _Oh no... Even if Accelerator comes back now, there is no way to for us to treat her! Still, I have to slow him down, even if by a little…_

Struggling, Kikyou desperately tried to push herself back up while Amai attached electrodes to the small child. She was barely able to push herself up, before slipping on her own blood pooling beneath her. Amai barely reacted to thump of her body collapsing back into the ground, barely giving her a glance before typing away on his laptop once more, restoring the virus once again.

"Heh... hehe… ahahahahaha! Good, good! Everything is back on schedule!"

A maniacal grin adorned Amai's face as he stared at the ever increasing error messages upon his laptop. Indeed, so focused was he on his imminent victory that he neglected all else, including his surroundings, missing the footsteps of an approaching teen. It wasn't until he felt a slight tap on his shoulder, and the sensation of flying in the air before slamming on the wall did he notice that a certain white haired teen had entered the room, his vision blackening as he slid towards the ground near Kikyou.

"Yoshikawa! What is going on?"

"Amai reinstalled the virus and destroyed the lab equipment to treat her. It is set to execute in about 40 minutes. We need to terminate LAST ORDER before it activates."

"What?! After all this you want me to get rid of her?"

"There's no other option! The lives of all the surviving sisters and and their caretakers are at risk. We need to act now!"

"Tsk…"

Accelerator grimaced as he walked towards the ruined computer. Noticing a flash drive, he pulled it out and examined it before staring at his hand.

 _Dammit! How do I fix this? With my power, I could easily touch someone's skin, reverse their blood flow, mess with their bioelectricity and chemistry. Wait… Bioelectricity!_

"Yoshikawa, this has the brat's pre-infection personality data, right?"

"Yes, but what about it? Without the correct equipment we cannot use it, and not in such a limited time frame."

"Where is a tablet, I need to study the code."

"Bottom left drawer. Why?"

"Simple, I just need to study the code that formed LAST ORDER's personality and delete the rest. After all, anything else is the virus right?"

"What?! That won't work! We need to terminate LAST ORDER! It's the only certain way to prevent this tragedy!"

"Shut up! After everything everyone has done to this girl, I won't let them get away with a 'Sorry, we couldn't save her!'"

Plugging in a flash drive, Accelerator skimmed through the lines of code, before nodding and breaking it half.

"Hah, this is easy enough!"

"Did you really have to break the tablet though?"

"Shut up!"

Putting his hand on LAST ORDER's forehead, he closed his eyes in concentration. Kikyou could only watch in awe as she saw the numbers of errors flashing on the connected laptop plummet, thousands at a time.

 _He… might just pull this off. A relief, but at the same time it was aggravating. Is he really matching what it took me hours to do in a few minutes?_

Definitely not pouting, she turned away, only to see Amai picking himself up and pointing a pistol at Accelerator, whose eyes widened in shock as he stared at his attacker.

 _Wait, why is Accelerator afraid? Reflection would protect him from bullets… unless its disabled due to extreme calculations. SHIT! This is one of the few moments when he CAN be killed! I am not going to watch and let EVERYTHING we worked for go down the drain!_

Without hesitation, she grabbed Amai's leg and pulled hard on his lab coat, pulling him off balance and causing the bullet to fire high and embed itself onto the ceiling.

"Annoying Bitch!"

Enraged, Amai fired two more rounds into the defenseless Kikyou before turning to face Accelerator. Only so see the palm of Accelerator's hand as he grabbed his face.

"You know Amai, over the course of the experiments, I learned over a thousand ways to break a human body. Let's see how many your's can take."

"Giyaaaaah!"

Using what little strength she had left, Kikyou turned away from the scene, instead taking comfort at the sight of the laptop proclaiming the errors and the virus had been purged, before closing her eyes and trying her best to ignore the pleas for mercy and the sounds of bones breaking and fluids leaking.

It took 10 minutes for a tranquil silence to take hold.

"Yoshikawa, I know you are still alive. Where's a safe place to take the brat?"

"Call the hospital number on my phone... The doctor in charge of that place is trustworthy... He'll take care of LAST ORDER once I bleed out."

"Hoh? And who said you are going to bleed out? I just used my power to save the brat. Saving you will be a piece of cake."

"Is that so? I'll… be in… your… care then."

"Of course, get some rest. I'll make sure you make it"

"Thanks… Accelerator…"

Closing her eyes, Kikyou fell into a peaceful sleep as she felt the gentle grasp of a hand upon her shoulder.

* * *

Silence reigned as Sayume and LAST ORDER stared at each other awkwardly. Both were tense, their bodies posed to flee should the other prove hostile. Beads of sweat formed on Sayume's face as she felt the full weight of the entire network gaze upon her once more.

 _Odd, I can feel the Network brushing against my senses, but it's not trying to force its way into me again. If anything, it feels… apprehensive?_

Closing her eyes, Sayume took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. Opening her eyes once more, she slowly walked to her bed and sat down, positioning herself to be able to jump and dash out the window at a moment's notice.

 _Right then… seeing how nothing is happening, I think I can assume she's not here as part of a pursuit. Heh, so small, yet I'm the younger sister… the youngest actually._

 _This world is weird._

"Right… this is sooner than expected but um… Hello Nee-san?"

"OOOhh! The mysterious little sister has acknowledged me as the elder sister, Misaka exclaims as Misaka snaps out of her stupor to cheer in joy! But why the sudden change, Misaka asks as Misaka tilts her head in an adorable manner to beg for information?"

"I… have had bad experiences with massive entities that could override my will and body. My first contact with the network reminded me of that and I pushed you away in fear. After being admitted here, I talked to the doctor in charge of this place and he explained what the Network was. To be honest, I'm still a bit apprehensive, but not as much as before."

"Eh!? Misaka exclaims as Misaka jumps up in shock and confusion that a sister born of the network experienced something before the network itself! How is this possible Misaka asks as Misaka looks at her little sister dubiously."

"Hm… how do I explain this in a way you can understand? I guess the easiest way to say it would be like this. This unit, this sister is an amalgamation created by nine sisters reforged and combined into a single unit using a preserved specimen from a far _**older system**_ that predates the network as the foundation. I am the combination of 10 individuals killed and discarded on the whims of others."

"I see, Misaka nods as Misaka attempts to process the information and disseminate it to the rest of the Network. Will you join the rest of us in the Network now, Misaka pleads as Misaka pouts in an emotionally manipulative manner?"

Sayume could only snort at the attempt before adopting EMIYA's trademark sarcastic grin.

 _You are nowhere near Illya's level of emotional manipulation, sister. Heh, let's see how you handle a taste of EMIYA._

"Misaka can pout as much as Misaka wants but Misaka will not win, Sayume condescendingly declares as she crosses her arms and looks down upon her much smaller sister"

"Eh?! Why did you switch speaking formats Misaka cries out in sudden confusion as she flails about adorably to garner sympathy!"

"Sayume doesn't know, Sayume says while Sayume arrogantly smirks at her smaller sister's awkward flailing."

"The younger sister is mocking me, Misaka mutters while glaring at youngest sister in frustration while wondering why the conversation has derailed."

"Heh, sorry. Just testing the waters. We are sisters, right? So teasing each other is the obvious thing to do right?"

Smirking wryly at the smaller sister, Sayume closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

 _At least that's what Illya did when she wasn't being a spoiled brat in the timelines she survived longer. Besides, it felt… right? I suppose this is one of the desires of the original sisters within me._

"I don't like it, Misaka says as Misaka pouts in displeasure at the youngest sister's actions."

"Hah… alright I'll stop for now. As for joining the Network though, I don't think that is a good idea."

"Hmm… why not? Misaka ask as Misaka tilts her head in confusion at the youngest sister's words. The Network should be safe for family, Misaka declares as Misaka rushes to hug her little sister!"

Sensing no hostility, Sayume made no attempt to escape the hug, wistfully patting the little girl's head in the same fashion Illya once coveted.

"The sisters are striving to become their own individuals while remaining in the Network, correct?"

"Yes, Misaka states as Misaka continues to hug the little sister while manipulatively rubbing Misaka's cheek against her to nonverbally ask for more head pats."

"Well the man who became my foundation had countless experiences, many of which came after his own death. Should his memories and experiences be shared with the rest of the Network so suddenly, the sheer weight and volume of the information would corrupt all the Sisters into becoming different variants of himself, instead of becoming their own individuals."

"How is that possible Misaka asks as Misaka looks up at the youngest sister, refusing still to let go of the hug."

"It is impossible to explain in a satisfactory manner. It can only be experienced and the Network as a whole is too inexperienced to handle it as it is now."

"Is that so? Misaka mutters as Misaka contemplates the ramifications of such claim."

A still silence ensued as LAST ORDER distributed the information to the rest of the Network, her face scrunching up in concentration as the 9968 Sisters debated Sayumi's claims. A full 5 minutes passed with no consensus being reached until Misaka 19090 proposed a compromise. Nodding in approval, LAST ORDER looked up towards her little sister and decided to claim it as her own.

"Misaka has a great idea, Misaka exclaims as she looks up to her youngest sister!"

"Oh, and that would be?"

"Why not join the Network but with some restrictions, Misaka asks as Misaka proves her reliability towards her wayward sister?"

"Restrictions?"

"Yep, Misaka declares as she hops off the bed and twirls around. Misaka is the administrator of the Network, Misaka states as Misaka educates her wayward sister. Misaka can make it so that the Network needs your permission before it can access any information you have, Misaka states as she continues to pace across the room in a manner Misaka believes a teacher would."

"Is that so? Hmm…"

Staring at the child, Sayume contemplated for a moment.

 _My instincts are crying out for me to accept. It would seem the Sisters that were integrated into me desperately wanted this before they died. And during my life as EMIYA, I relied on my instincts more than anything else to survive. I suppose I can only march forward, as cautiously as I can._

"Very well."

LAST ORDER said nothing but instead merely smiled, beaming with joy. Sayumi trembled as the full weight of the Network bore down on her. Before when Sayume flushed prana throughout her system to shut it out, she never took the time to appreciate the vastness of the Network. Once more, she felt tendrils reach out towards her mind and soul. As it creeped closer, she instinctively cringed and withdrew backwards.

The Network paused, sensing her apprehension before continuing forward, conveying intentions of peace and love towards the wayward child. Eventually, although instinctively tensing at the intrusive nature of the bond, Sayumi did not resist and eventually felt the bond solidify and become an intrinsic part of herself.

 _There is no going back, I can block interference from this connection, but I won't be able to sever it. It's a big a part of me now as EMIYA is._

 _Indeed, although who is EMIYA?_

 _LAST ORDER?_

 _Yep, welcome to the Network wayward sister!_

Sayumi's brow furrowed as the small sister smiled in absolute joy before her, her lips never moving during the exchange. Only her direct thoughts were exchanged.

 _Odd, I expected there to be… more than just you and me here._

 _Oh, I blocked out the other sisters for now. I'm the Administrator remember? I figured having all of your sisters their newest little sister so suddenly would scare you._

 _Thanks, although it is strange hearing you speak without hearing your verbal tics._

 _Verbal tics?_

 _Don't worry about it._

 _You are an odd one, youngest sister._

 _Hmm, perhaps. Besides, I do have a name now. It's Sayume._

 _Sayume? Ok, I'll tell the others that. I hope you are ready to meet the others._

A smug smile formed on LAST ORDER's face as those thoughts were sent to her little sister. A belated sense of warning flared within Sayume's mind upon seeing the smile and her cheek twitched in apprehension. The veil separating the two from the rest of the sisters was lifted and the stares of nearly 10,000 sisters was directed upon her. One could taste the curiosity in the air.

 _Oh Sh-_

Sayume's mind was soon flooded with requests and questions flooding her mind, 9968 queries per second. All the while hearing LAST ORDER's giggling, both in the Network and in the real world.

* * *

"Nee-san… that was mean."

"Nyah haha! Misaka laughs as she looks at her exhausted little sister!"

"Was watching me suffer from a massive migraine for an hour really that amusing?"

"Yep, Misaka replies shamelessly towards Misaka's little sister."

"Ugh, why are you in the hospital anyways?"

"Oh that's because…"

LAST ORDER's words die in her lips as she shuddered panic.

"Oh no, Misaka cries out in panic as Misaka realizes she forgot to greet the lost child when he came to visit Yoshikawa!"

"Is he the white haired esper?"

"Yes, Misaka replies to the question despite Misaka trying to think of what to do next."

A mischievous smile formed on Sayume's face while LAST ORDER flailed about in a panic before her.

"Well, I have a suggestion Nee-san, why not treat this like hide and go seek?"

"Hmm? What do you mean Misaka ask as Misaka gazes upon her new sister as a source of new hope."

"Well, based on what I know of him, if you totally treated this like hide and seek, he'd definitely come to appreciate it afterwards."

"Really, Misaka says as Misaka inquires further for more information."

"Yes really! In fact he might get annoyed at first, but he'll definitely find it fun in hindsight. But only if you make it last till 5:30, any longer and he might think you've been kidnaped. Games are good, but only in moderation."

"I see, Misaka says as Misaka begins to understand the brilliance of her younger sister!"

"Yep, and if somehow I'm wrong, just mention that it was my idea. That way he won't be mad at you anymore."

"You'd take the fall for me? Misaka asks as Misaka's eyes water from the potential heroic sacrifice before her."

"Of course."

"Yay! Best little sister ever, Misaka declares as Misaka bolts out of the room to find a better hiding space!"

She never noticed Sayume's sadistic grin as she left the room.

 _That was evil Sayume._

 _Perhaps, but why didn't you or any of the other Sisters intervene, 10050?_

 _Because we are interested in seeing how this turns out. You claimed Sayume, that sisters tease each other. We are now gathering data to see the effects of such teasing._

 _Well she kind of deserves it, she didn't warn you guys that I'd be overwhelmed if you guys were to interact with me all at the same time and just watched me suffer for her amusement. This is an acceptable retaliation, don't you agree?_

 _Indeed. Our apologies for overwhelming you like that, Sayume._

 _No worries. It's almost time for my benefactor to arrive and for me to leave the hospital. I'll try to visit you all in person later after I have a stable place to live._

 _Of course. Also, our compliments in giving Last Order a time frame to aim for. It is an effective means of manipulating a time frame for escape. This lesson has been spread to the rest of the Network for further study. Until next time Sister._

Sayume nodded as she felt the Network recede from her mind. It was still there, only a thought away, but at the same time she felt much needed privacy as her sisters gave her some mental space. Turning around, she glanced at the clock.

 _It is 4:43. Good, just in time too, Misaki should be here in a few minutes to pick me up. I'll be long gone before they figure out what I've done._

* * *

Misaki was unnaturally subdued when she arrived to pick up her ward. Sayume, sensing there there was something Misaki wanted to say only in private played along. Upon reaching the limousine though, Misaki's silence continued, and her attempts to remain stoic were undermined by the anxiety in her eyes.

"Ok Misaki, what happened?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Misaki, you are often an annoyingly cheerful and outspoken person. The only reason why you'd be this subdued is because there is bad news you don't wish to share."

Closing her eyes, Misaki sighed and took a deep breath before opening her eyes once more.

"Such high perception ability and bluntness undermines your ability to be cute, Sayume-chan."

"Misaki, **what happened?** "

"Sa-Sayume, there's no need to glare at me so intensely. It's not all bad news! I got you accepted to Tokiwadai Middle School despite not undergoing the proper power tests yet! You'll have your own dorm room and be virtually unassailable by the City's darkside while you are in its halls."

"Then why are you so concerned Misaki? If that was it, you'd be insufferably cheerful and rubbing it in my face."

"Well… when I was… explaining your situation, I may have created a fictional scenario to explain how you were created."

"And?"

"One of the board of Directors somehow heard of it, modified it, and released it to the public to undermine his rival who was involved with the project... Who in turn created his own variation of the story and released that to the public to undermine his attacker and other rivals who were not even involved with the mud slinging."

"So what you mean to tell me Misaki, is that in your attempt to create a cover story for me to attend, you and your agents inadvertently turned me into the biggest controversy of the city and **directed the gaze of both public and the darkness of the city towards me?** "

Trembling, Misaki averted gaze and had the decency to look embarrassed and abashed at the situation. Frowning in irritation, Sayume turned to look out the window, silently thanking that they were all tinted.

"Hah… how can this get any worse…?"

"Haha… about that… the news might have leaked out of the city as well..."

An awkward silence filled the car as Sayume pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Just my luck… So what does that mean _ **exactly,**_ Misaki?"

"Other than Academy city receiving international political flak for failing to detect an illegal cloning laboratory within its borders? The parents of Misaka Mikoto, the original that you were cloned from discovered your existence from the news. Misaka Misuzu, her- technically **your** mother is on her way to visit the daughter she never knew she had."

"Hah… such misfortune."

* * *

 _At that exact moment of that phrase being uttered, certain normal high schooler sneezed at home, causing him to drop his last unbroken egg on his apartment floor, much to the horror of a certain gluttonous nun._

" _Index… stay calm I can…"_

" _Touma!"_

" _Such misfortune! Gah!"_

 _A new set of bite marks would adorn his body that night._

* * *

Placing an arm on Sayume's shoulder, Misaki gave a gentle squeeze of support.

"I'm sorry Sayume, normally my agents aren't sloppy like this. I underestimated the interest in your case. If anything, this means you'll have a good start with Mikoto at least."

"Mikoto… she's the original right? Wouldn't she dislike a clone, a pale imitation, a mockery of herself?"

"Actually, no. From what my sources were able to find out, she fought against the cloning project that gave birth to you to save the Sisters from meaningless deaths. She's a crass, childish, and a borderline idiot, but she loves the sisters as her own siblings. As much as I hate to say it, but other than myself, she's probably one of the few people you can trust not to have an ulterior motive around you."

"I see…"

Once more, silence dominated the limo, with Misaki starring uncomfortably at Sayume, wondering how she could make this up to her friend. Noticing this, Sayume gave her a tired smile.

"Tell me Misaki, did you at least get me access to a kitchen?"

At the sudden question, Misaki wore a tired smile.

"Despite all my efforts, I couldn't have a custom dorm room built with a kitchen in it. I was however, able to negotiate near unrestricted access to the dorm kitchen and the cooking clubs of our school are most interested in you."

"Good."

The rest of the ride continued in comfortable silence, and as the limousine pulled up to her new home, Sayume noticed a banner waving in front of the building.

" _Welcome to Tokiwadai, Sayume!"_

* * *

Author's Notes

Heya Peeps!

Wasn't expecting such a large negative reaction to the last chapter, but I guess I didn't explain the scene well enough last chapter. My immaturity as a writer was on display but I'll try my best to explain my reasoning.

Misaki did not actually usurp control of the UBW from EMIYA. She has the power of Mental Out, aka mental manipulation, not the ability to dive into the souls of others. So where the scene takes place is a mental scape fueled by the fading remnants of the UBW.

Despite it being a mental scape, due to its connection to the UBW, Misaki still would not normally be able to usurp control of it if EMIYA was in prime condition. Unfortunately, EMIYA's soul was in a state of flux due to the modifications Truth put him through, so his sense of self both for mind and soul was being redefined. And if the soul is slightly different, EMIYA's UBW cannot be used, which is why Shirou had to develop his own version of the reality marble instead of just copying Archer's.

In other words, Misaki was only able to pull it off due to unique circumstances at the time. Now that Sayume's (EMIYA's) soul is becoming more stable, Misaki will never be able to pull it off again.

The last chapter highlighted a flaw I have as a writer, and that is I need to provide more context since not everyone shares my point of view when reading a scene. I write how I think, which is why my editor struggles so much fixing my messed up grammar. My thought processes are to put it kindly, unorthodox and unusual at times.

So yeah, sorry about that. I'll try to improve so misunderstandings like that won't happen as often.

As for the swirl of the root business, I'll avoid writing that in the future. I saw in several fics I've read so I came to view it as a norm. If it bothers you guys to read it I don't mind cutting it out.

As for the Zelretch complaints… Yeah, I know he's not an unmitigated troll. In fact I dislike it when fics portray him as such. But why is this even a complaint about this story? He's not in this story, nor in Shackles of Love and a Wish and he is most certainly not in A Boulder in the Path of Conquest.

Oh and I finally got around to convincing my editor to make me create a thread on Space Battles to discuss story mechanics and franchise ability interactions related to this story. Hopefully through that thread, I can avoid possible pitfalls and author's mistakes.

Most importantly, sorry for the MASSIVE delay in posting this chapter. I've been busy as hell lately. Like, I've never been this busy before in my life. School, two part time jobs, and student teaching at the same time, there are some weeks were I'm lucky to get 4 hours of sleep a night. Until my schedule stabilizes, there will be a long delay between updates. Once my schedule stabilizes though, I'm going on a writing spree. I've closed the polls now, so I'll start writing 3 prologues as soon as I am able. While I'm doing that, I'll put another poll up alongside new ideas for me to focus on when I'm having writer's block for a story.

I hope you guys stick with me as I continue to craft this story. I'm going to stumble at times, but I'll do my best to ensure it progresses logically. Thanks for the constructive criticism and I'll see you guys next chapter!

* * *

Editor's Notes:

So, with this chapter, Kovaras and I thought it was a weird one, but agreed that it was a necessary evil. Whilst it may be an odd read, please bear with it.

Anyways, with formalities out of the way, Lord Shirou almighty, this semester has been a festival of stress and self hate for both me and our _ever so gracious_ writer of this story. Like, hot damn I wanna just not exist for a couple days.

But, hey. We're alive, somehow. I have to deal with more LAST ORDER jazz which will eventually drive me to hell, back, and to the staircase of heaven just to drag me back down to Earth once I take the last step.

Also, I now realized that I have to start editing his polls because I immediately noticed a mistake after he decided to throw down an explanation of the options. A reward of an imaginary cookie from me if one can guess which option was his mistake.

Anyways, I don't know how often we'll able to do more jazz like this, but we'll do our best to keep up somewhat. Even in summer, once Shadowbringers hits, I doubt both of us will be doing much of writing/editing until we're satisfied with our own progress. But, hey. At least y'all know we still exist… right?


	6. Tokiwadai

_Well… this is new. Guess this proves I'm definitely not EMIYA anymore. Never within the vast memories of my past self do I ever recall a welcoming party for me. People never threw parties for terrorists, altruistic or not. And Magi usually tend to go out of the way to avoid inviting a counter guardian into their timeline. Those that did tended to discover I made a poor guest._

Sayume awkwardly walked forward towards the building, flanked by an unusually bashful Misaki. As they entered the dorms, she noticed welcoming balloons and countless decorations. But what stood out to her the most was the overall welcoming atmosphere from the students. It was by no means perfect, with several of them glancing at each other, whispering their thoughts. But it was a far better sight than what she expected of sheltered middle school girls.

"Misaki, did you…"

"Nope, well maybe one or two early on, but only to post certain things online. When it comes to social media, taking charge of the initial rumors and claims can easily shape the debate. Once a perspective gains momentum early on, it's hard to overcome its power, truth or not."

"Is that so? Well that explains the relatively warm welcome compared to the hushed whispers and stares I was expecting."

"Hey, just because I had high misfortune ability when it came to getting you enrolled doesn't mean I'd just throw you to the wolves. You're Dolly's family and therefore my family. It's only by chance and misfortune that you share blood with a certain annoying Biri Biri"

"Haa? What was that?"

The pair stopped walking and shifted their gaze to the new voice, revealing a young girl with short tea colored hair, electricity sparking from her hair.

"Oh? Ah, Misaka-san, how good to see you. Are you here to escort your sister and show her around the school?"

"Don't 'oh' me. My name isn't Biri-biri! Don't go teaching my little sister weird things!"

"Misaka-san, this is a welcoming event for your sister. Is yelling at a fellow student for escorting a new arrival lady like behavior?"

"Why you…"

Sayume instinctively took a step back, memories of two bickering women resurfacing. That of a blond dressed in blue against a black haired one dressed in red.

 _Rin… Luvia…_

She smiled wistfully, as the memories, the images of her past life interposed themselves into the bickering pair before her. The scene lasted for a few moments longer before they realized they were in public, before a crowd of gossiping school girls.

Sighing in annoyance, Misaki reached into her purse and pulled out a remote control.

"You will not remember any of this, and delete any possible posts you may have made online. You will then leave this area to help the others prepare our new classmate for her new home."

Their eyes glazed over, the witnesses nodded and walked away. Mikoto could only cluck her tongue in annoyance, unwilling to admit the other level 5 esper just performed her a favor as well.

"Right then… Misaka-san, I trust you can take your younger sibling on tour of the campus? I need to finish negotiations with the administration for Sayume's acceptance into the school."

"Fine, but answer me this… Why are you doing this? Why get involved with a girl you don't know?"

"Why Misaka-san, why would I not help a child I found in dire distress? Isn't it the right thing to do?"

"But for you to go this far… I didn't expect that of you."

"Heh, it would seem your character judgement ability is far too low Misaka-san."

Frowning in annoyance, Misaka grabbed the hand of her newest sister and dragged her away, doing her best to ignore the _elegant_ laughter of her level 5 peer. Sayume could only smile wryly as she was being led away.

 _Just like Rin when she lost an argument with Luvia… Will this be the Clock Tower all over again?_

As they walked away, they could hear Luv- Misaki call out once more.

"Oh, and Misaka-san, do try to reign in your powers today! The Dorm Manager isn't pleased with an exception being made to the rules. I personally do not care if you are foolish and get yourself on her bad side, but do _try_ to keep your innocent little sister out of trouble!"

Misaka stopped in her tracks, a shiver of fear running down her back as she glanced back at her most disliked classmate. Without speaking a word, she nodded and proceeded onward, with a much confused Sayume raising a brow at the interaction.

 _Who IS this woman? Who can inspire such fear between a mind controller and my sister, who is apparently even MORE powerful than said mind controller?_

She could only frown in concern as she saw a cold sweat appear on her sister's face.

* * *

Misaka's supposed tour of the campus consisted of her holding her youngest clone's hands while trying to find a nice quiet spot away from the prying eyes of her gossiping classmates. Neither said a word, Mikoto was far too busy searching for a private area and trying to suppress her glowing blush at the mutterings of her peers, while Sayume merely looked around in awe, silently wondering just how MUCH money was sunk into her new home.

It wasn't until they reached the roof of their school did Mikoto feel as if they had enough privacy. Finally, after looking around to ensure they were truly alone, did she let go of Sayume's hand. Frowning, she looked into her sister's eyes, betraying a hint of guilt and regret.

"So, how much of the News is actually true?"

"I wouldn't know Nee-san. Ever since I was found, I was kept in a hospital room. I didn't have access to a TV or the internet while I was there. What are they saying about me?"

"Hah… the news claims that you are a clone of me that was genetically modified using samples I provided Academy City for research years ago. Genes of an unknown donor and an egg stolen from my mother years ago when she admitted to the hospital for alcohol poisoning shortly after I was admitted to the city were spliced into my sequence to create you years ago, with experimental drugs to accelerate your growth. Then for years you were experimented on constantly to see if it was possible to change an esper ability without risking the original."

"Huh, sounds plausible, if mostly untrue."

"Meaning?"

Mikoto's eyes narrowed, her expression brooking no lies or opposition.

 _Tsk, if Misaki didn't inform me that Mikoto knew about my sisters, I probably would have made an easily discerned lie. But talking about EMIYA will be too much for her, it's not like the Network that can connect directly to my mind or Misaki who actually interacted with him. Best to pull of a Kirei and speak misleading truths…_

"I was created a few days ago using the parts of 9 of our live siblings and a sample from a previous project to create something new. Shortly after my creation, I was able to glean information from that sample as well as interact with the Network for the first time. Realizing the peril I was in, I escaped from the facility while it was being attacked by unknown forces. I was wounded in the escape and was discovered by Misaki-san while I was bleeding out in the street."

"Wait, you were the person Misaki found on the street? Why would she ask me to wipe out the surveillance footage of the area without explaining why? She even gave me a favor to call in the future as long as I didn't ask any more questions!"

"I wouldn't know Nee-san. Maybe she was afraid you'd be a liability if you knew. This is only my first impression, but it didn't look like the two of you get along."

Scowling, Mikoto averted her gaze.

"Of course we don't! She always gets on my nerves! Especially her condescending look she has when speaking to others..."

Shaking her head, Sayume merely shrugged at her sister.

"I've only been alive for a few days Nee-san, not enough time to really know anyone or their motives you know?"

"Wait, earlier you said you were made out of 9 of our live sisters, what do you mean?!"

"Exactly that. They made 9 more sisters, then while they were alive, broke them down to make me. From what the Network has said, they were in excruciating pain for the few moments the process took."

"Are… are you serious?!"

"I'm not lying."

"I see…"

At her words, Mikoto's gaze drifted downwards, her eyes watering in grief at the thought of more fallen sisters.

 _I feel bad about telling her that, but it least it was the truth, correct sisters?_

 _Correct. Do you have any other queries, youngest sister?_

 _Yeah, can you share memories that you have of Mikoto here? I'd like to get to know her better._

 _Of course, sister._

In the span of a single moment, a deluge of memories flooded Sayume's mind. A visit with their older sister in which they were "gifted" a gekota badge in which the sister cherished until her dying breath. The misunderstandings from subsequent meetings in which the sisters believed they were unwanted, and finally a desperate last stand alongside a black haired youth against a white haired monster.

 _That boy… he's the one that pursued me after I escaped…_

 _You too suffered at his hands?_

 _Yes, although he was practicing restraint. Only received a dagger in the gut, which I threw at him._

 _Can you share this memory?_

 _I'll try next time I'm with LAST ORDER. I don't want to accidently dump the wrong memories onto the network._

 _Understood. Do_ _ **enjoy**_ _your time with older sister._

 _Is that jealousy I detect?_

…

 _Your lack of response speaks volumes. I'll try to get her to visit you soon._

 _...Much appreciated._

Shifting her focus away from the network, Sayume felt a hand upon her head, and Mikoto looking at her in concern.

"Um… what are you doing sister?"

"What am I doing? What happened to you?! You just went into a daze all of a sudden and had a bunch of weird expressions on your face! You wouldn't respond to anything I said! Are you ok!?"

"Uh, sorry about that Nee-san. I was talking to the Network and asking the others to share their memories of you."

"I see, so those faces were what the sisters were feeling at the time…"

Mikoto's eyes narrowed as she looked to the side, sighing wistfully before shaking her head.

"So as I was saying, is there anything else you can tell me about the lab you are from? Anything to track down the bastards that hurt you?"

"No, there were only 4 people present at my creation. The one that started the process that created me died during the experiment, don't know how. Then the surviving members started fighting over me, with the last one standing choosing to stay behind to hold off outside parties who wanted to capture me while I escaped."

"And you were injured during the escape, which was when Misaki found you…"

"Correct."

"Hah… what a mess. We'll need to come up with a cover story to tell mom later when she arrives. If we tell her too much, she might do something to annoy the darkside of the city."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that. What is she like by the way? I've never had a mother before."

"She's well... good but annoying at times. She likes to embarrass me alot, but I wouldn't trade her for the world."

"Do.. do you think she'll accept me? It's not everyday you find out your child was cloned, and from the news said I'm an abomination, an amalgamation of so many people."

"I don't think she'll mind. Maybe a bit awkward around you at first but I doubt she'd just reject you. Besides, even if she did, you're my sister no matter what!"

Placing her hand on Sayume's shoulder, Mikoto gave her a quick squeeze of support and a smile. Sayume could only close her eyes and smile wryly, shaking her head.

"Hah… what an accepting sister I have. Now if only she didn't have such childish tastes she'd be the perfect cool older sister."

The words struck Mikoto like a lighting bolt, her body tensing and her mouth opening in shock.

"Eh, what?"

"Oh sorry about that, 9982's thoughts kinda bled through there for a second."

"Isn't she the one that…"

"Received that Gekota badge from you? Yes. A real piece of work that one, don't you agree Nee-san?"

"I… Did she?"

Mikoto could only look longingly at her younger sister, her eyes pleading for an answer that constantly dies in her throat, unable to be spoken in fear of a possible answer.

 _Shit… I handled that poorly. I have to remember that she's only a kid, not the second life of an ancient fool. This kind of trauma isn't one that can be overcome in a few short days. It takes years to fully move on._

"She didn't blame you for anything Nee-san. She enjoyed her time with you. I have her memories now from the Network. Even the memories of her stealing your ice cream. She wouldn't want you to be sad about this anymore."

"I… thank you Sayume."

"Of course."

"Hah... here I am trying to reassure you but now I'm the one that needs assurance."

"Heh, what a bothersome older sister that I have."

Warmly smirking, Sayume walked forward arms wide open. With a wistful smile, Mikoto dashed forward to embrace her sister, trying all the while to suppress her sobs. At the urging of her sisters in the Network, Sayume rubbed Mikoto's back, passing on messages of support from the others, reminding their guilt-ridden sister that it wasn't her fault.

After a few minutes, Mikoto's breathing became normal, but neither broke off the embrace, taking a moment enjoy the peace and serenity of the moment. Until a certain girl with pigtails suddenly appeared next to them.

"Onee-sama, I heard… WHAT ARE YOU DOING ONEE-SAMA?!"

The pair immediately separated, with Sayume looking at the sudden interloper warily while her sister blushed in embarrassment. All the while, Kuroko trembled in shock, pointing at the two girls before her.

"I… I heard you were meeting with your new discovered clone-sister on the roof, not having a rendevouz with a tanned delinquent! If you wanted an embrace I am more than willing to provide Onee-sama! Why wouldn't you come to me for comfort first **Onee-sama**!"

"Uh… Nee-san, who is this?"

"Hah… this idiot is my roommate and best friend, Shirai Kuroko. And this **IS** my sister, look!"

"Eh?!"

Walking forward, Kuroko began walking around the tanned girl, studying her head to toe, with a lecherous gaze ever strengthening.

 _What… what is this! Unblemished tanned skin, snow white hair flowing past her knees, cool steel gray eyes… Did the researchers go beyond what I dreamed possible…_

 _ **A chocolate Onee-sama!?**_

A perverted grin adorned Kuroko's face as her hands reached out, her fingers wiggling in a most lecherous manner. Sayume's danger sense flared as the girl inched closer, instinctively taking a step back. Her eye twitched, as blueprints to various low cost noble phantasms were brought to the fore, ready to be traced at a moments notice, only for an enraged voice to interrupt.

" **Ku-Ro-Ko! What are you doing to my little sister?"**

Kuroko instinctively teleported back a few feet, avoiding the mass amount of electricity surging towards her former location. Taking a sigh of relief, Sayume took a step back, and merely watched on as the pair faced each other.

"Nothing Onee-sama! I was merely examining her to make sure she was authentic!"

"Then why would she feel so threatened by you that she'd cringe and take a step back! It's one thing to pester me with your tendencies, but I'm sure as hell not letting you bother her with it too!"

Infuriated, Mikoto fired electricity again and again at the teleporter, who evaded each one with ease. Burn marks began adorning the roof, with a blow occasionally striking hard enough the cause the entire building to tremble. Each lightning strike coming down with ever greater force in response to Kuroko's ever so smug smirk.

"Onee-sama, have you forgotten? You can't hit me like this! Now let's calm down and-"

Once more she teleported away, once more she evaded Mikoto's blow. Sayume watched the display in silence, noting the abilities of her sister and her friend, eventually seeing a shadow appear at the edge of her vision. Turning her head, she saw a professionally dressed woman with glasses, looking _**most**_ displeased, walk to where Kuroko teleported next, unnoticed by the smug esper. Glancing to her side Sayume noticed her sister tense up in fear, barely able to breathe upon seeing the woman.

"Honestly Onee-sama, sometimes you are too stubborn for your own good! Oh? You've stopped? Have you come to your senses?"

"Indeed, **have** **you** and **Misaka** come to your senses, Shirai?"

A cold sweat drenched the espers, as Kuroko turned to greet the woman.

"Ah, dorm mistress nice day to-"

She never finished her words, as the dorm manager swiftly grabbed her head and twisted, the cracking of her neck silencing any words she or Mikoto may have had before tossing her aside. Sayume could only stare in awe at the scene.

 _How… how did she do that?! She snapped her neck, but she still lives! No sign of lasting damage either! How the hell do you do a non-lethal neck snap?! Is this an esper ability? No, there was no appearance of the supernatural during that interaction. Is it raw skill? Wouldn't that mean it could be taught? I wonder if I can learn that… it would have been incredibly useful when I was first alive as EMIYA. I could have resolved so many situations nonlethally if I knew how to do that!_

"Honestly, causing mischief in the dorms was not enough? Now you must cause trouble in the REST of the campus during the day? Rules are meant to be upheld. Isn't that right, Misaka?"

"I… yes… I mean, of course, dorm manager!"

"So, what should we do with the two of you?"

"Um, excuse me ma'am."

A cold sweat formed on Sayume once the Dorm Manager's gaze shifted upon her.

 _Such… such an intimidating aura! This is equal to the pressure of an assassin class servant. How… how is this possible for a normal person!?_

"Yes child? Do you have something to add?"

Swallowing, Sayume nodded as she tried to meet the woman's stare.

"Yes, if my sister has to be punished, so should I. My sister lashed out at Kuroko when she scared me and did not apologize. It doesn't feel right for my sister to be punished for protecting me. If I had kept calm this wouldn't have happened."

"Hoh? You aren't trying to weasel your sister out of her punishment?"

"No, she broke the rules, so there should be consequences. But it doesn't feel right for me not to be punished when my sister did it for my sake. So please…"

The manager silently stared at the child, lost in her thoughts until turned to face Mikoto.

"Is this true Misaka?"

"Y-yes Dorm manager! But my sister did nothing wrong, she broke no rules, so she shouldn't be punished."

"So you consider her your sister, despite everything on the news?"

"Huh? What kind of question is that? Even if she was born differently, she's still family! Why would that even matter here?"

At Mikoto's answer, the Dorm manager narrowed her eyes and adjusted her glasses.

"I see. Request denied Sayume-san. As for you Misaka, your punishment is to escort a new student around the campus for the rest of the day. Following which, you will explain to this new transfer student all the rules, regulations and procedures of Tokiwadai Middle School. After which, for the next month you will be expected to escort the student around the city to help familiarize her with her surroundings. This will continue everyday with no breaks and I expect her to become a model student afterwards, is this clear Misaka?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Good. As for you Sayume, due to a miscommunication, you were not assigned a proper guide to help you acclimate to your new environment. I have assigned a gifted if troublesome student to become your new guide to assist you. Should you find anything amiss with the quality of your transition assistance be sure to report it to me, is that clear Sayume-san?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Excellent. Misaka, guide our new student to the main office, I assume they'll need her for testing soon. I'll deal with Shirai and assign her punishment once she recovers."

"Understood, thank you Dorm Manager!"

Bowing in unison, the sisters made a respectfully hasty retreat, with Sayume briefly pausing to look back, only to see the older woman pick up Kuroko by the scruff of her neck and drag her away, sighing in annoyance.

* * *

The pair sat alone in the main office of the campus, with the secretary out on errands for the principle while the rest of the administration prepare for the battery of tests required to measure their newest student. A giddy air filled the room, as the two chatted away about the doom they so narrowly avoided.

"That was terrifying. Still, why did you get involved like that Sayume?"

"It didn't feel right to me to watch you get punished for trying to help me out."

 _This feeling… I wonder, is it the EMIYA within me still craving to help others, the desires of the sisters to be with family, or is it my own unique desires finally starting to form? Oh well, either way it feels right._

"Still, this has got to be the closest anyone has gotten to getting out of a punishment from the Dorm Manager!"

"Is she really that strict?"

"Didn't you see what she did to Kuroko with no esper abilities?"

"Good point."

Smiling warmly, Mikoto pulled out her phone and began messaging others.

"Hey Sayume, this weekend we should have some free time, let me introduce you to my friends!"

"Sure, I'd love to meet them, Nee-san."

"Hmm… what should we do this weekend? How about-"

Before should could voice her thoughts, there was a brief knock at the door before it opened, an elderly woman alongside several of her aids walked into the room.

"Ah, Misaka-san, thank you for waiting with your sister. You can go back now. The tests for your sister needs to be performed in privacy. Don't worry, we will message you when they are complete for you to come and escort her back to her new room."

"Ah, understood. I'll see you later Sayume."

Bowing, Mikoto walked out of the room, pausing only to wave goodbye to her new sister.

"As for you Sayume-san, please come with us, the testing should only take a few hours."

"Of course."

As Sayume followed the staff down the hall, she saw Misaki standing before the door to the testing area. Nodding, the adults halted in their steps and spread out, keeping an eye out for any possible interlopers.

"Well then Sayume, I don't have much time before someone notices I took control of the staff again, so I'll be brief. Be truthful for the most part during the examination. You need to show yourself as a powerful esper, at least a level 3 to stay in the school. But for the school to save face for bending its own rules to admit you so suddenly, you need to be rated at least as a level 4. Show them the flexibility of your skills, primarily tracing. Just don't show them your more… _exotic_ artifacts at your disposal."

"Oh, you can't just instruct them to fudge the test for my with your own powers?"

"There needs to be recordings and outside observers watching it live for it to count. Even I cannot manipulate that many people and I doubt Mikoto will fill comfortable hacking _multiple_ institutions when the legal way is far easier and safer to go."

"So pretty much go crazy with the tracing, don't mention that I have noble phantasms or mystic codes, okay."

"Ugh, what high weird naming power your 'occultist' organizations have."

"I'm not the one who came up with the terms."

"I know. Regardless, go ahead and wow the researchers. I'll handle the rest."

As Misaki walked away, the staff once more gathered around Sayume and escorted her into the testing facility, as if nothing happened. Sighing, she shook her head and followed along.

 _If she wasn't on my side, I swear I'd be terrified of Misaki…_

* * *

"So Itou-san, what are your findings about our newest student?"

"There is much to cover Director Unabara. Where would you like to start?"

"Start with her esper ability. What is it and want rank is it? I assume it is elektromeister like the original."

"Not quite Director… She is... well, unique I suppose is the best way to put it. We don't have an official term for what she is yet, but the other researchers are calling her a composite level 5 esper."

Intrigued, the Director raised brow at her haggard assistant, her relief at the apparent success of their gamble barely contained.

"Explain."

"She has a new, never before seen ability, which according her, was called _Tracing_ by the original researchers who studied her. She can make near perfect replicas of simple weaponry such as swords from a glance and perfect replicas of almost anything she has had time to study provided she can understand the process behind it."

"Oh?"

"I will forward the video of the experiment later, but from what we have found, she can make perfect replicas of just about anything she can understand the concept behind. At one point we brought in a broken cleaning robot for her to study. She lacked the ability to 'trace' it all in one go, but she was able to expertly disassemble it, trace every individual part she found, and then repair the machine with what limited tools on hand. Her creations from 'tracing' are indistinguishable from the originals. None of the tools and instruments on hand were able to detect anything abnormal about her traced objects, and they only disintegrated when she willed it."

"Fascinating… how much studying did she need to 'trace' the objects?"

"From what we could determine, she relies on sight and touch to investigate whatever material she is working with, and after a few moments she can create a perfect replica, barring of course complex machinery. As for the swords and other simple weaponry, she claimed she could make near perfect replicas based on sight that would eventually disintegrate. To test this, we showed her a surgeon's knife of which at our request she traced 5 copies of. Afterwards, we let her hold the knife to study, then trace 5 times again. The result was the sight only knives disintegrated over the course of a few hours before suffering a sudden catastrophic collapse. The knives created after studying the original are still under observation. No noticeable changes thus far."

"Interesting… But she can only create sight based imperfect copies of basic weaponry correct? Any indication as to why she could not create sight based imperfect copies of other items, such as jewelry?"

"No definite reasons yet, however we do have a hypothesis."

"And that being?"

"Based on the interview answers she gave before the practical evaluations, she indicated that most of her time under the… less scrupulous researchers was most spent trying to survive. She was attacked, electrocuted, etc., in order to observe her reactions. With her life under constant threat, and being attacked on a regular basis her brain could have developed in a manner to better address her means of survival. This kind of phenomena has been observed in school children in other regions in the world in which children are raised in hostile environments. We won't know for certain until she undergoes Neuroimaging."

"So chances are she will not be able to perform this outside of weaponry?"

"It is possible, but we simply do not know enough. Regardless, I can't believe them…"

The researcher's face scrunched up in fury as his mind recounted the ordeals the young girl relayed to him and the others.

"Such lack of morals, such callousness. They weren't even Kiharas!"

"One does not need to bear the Kihara name to be a monster Itou-san."

"As this case so obviously shows. I truly hope those bastards died in that fire in District 19."

"Perhaps, but now is not the time for this. What level is she expected to have?"

"For Tracing? She'll be a high end level 4, by the time of the next semester assessment, she might even break the barrier into level 5."

"I see, so why did your compatriots call her a composite 5 then?"

"Well… whatever those bastards did to her, they achieved what was formerly believed to be impossible."

"And? I don't care for dramatic pauses."

"She's also a level 1 elektromeister. Her former handlers were too interested in her tracing, so that aspect of her was neglected."

A pregnant silence filled the room as the Director Unabara stood stunned, her mouth wide open in shock. Minutes passed until finally she spoke in a sorrowful tone.

"So the specter of the Special Ability Institute shall rise again…"

"Indeed, only this time they'll add cloning and genetic modifications this time on top of slaughtering child errors."

Snarling, the Director banged a fist upon her desk, the entire room trembling from the force as a bruise slowly formed on her hand.

"And the Board of Directors already knows because of the observers they sent. We are going to need to increase our security budget. Sayume was created using Mikoto's DNA as one of the foundations. One of those Kihara bastards will probably try to abduct one of our students under the assumption that the process will only work if a high level esper is used."

"And now we have to fear the specter of illegal cloning as well. We will need to update our policies to prevent our students' DNA from being obtained illegally in a moment of carelessness."

Collapsing back onto her chair, the Director started massaging her temples, uncaring of what image she must now be projecting to her subordinate.

"This will be a nightmare to bring up with the rest of the staff. But the die has been cast. One last thing however Itou-san, what are your thoughts about the girl? What is your first impression?"

At the sight of his exhausted superior, he wore a wry smile before speaking.

"A mature child desperately trying to understand the world around her. At first glance, she appears patient and kind, but underneath she is cynical, and self reflective if her dry wit is any indication."

"So she will not become a problem student?"

"No Director, in my opinion she will probably become one of your model students, aside from all the trouble her mere existence will draw to her and the school."

"I see… thank you for your efforts Itou-san. I will review your report in depth when you send it to me."

"Of course Director. Message me if you need more information."

Nodding in acknowledgement, she silently dismissed her subordinate before resting her chin on her hands, closing her eyes to contemplate the situation.

 _What a mess. I wasn't expecting to have the very first_ _ **duel esper**_ _in existence to be admitted to my school. Truly a dangerous opportunity. This needs to be handled delicately, but if we pull this off, the prestige and influence of Tokiwadai will skyrocket. All that is left now is for Misaka Misuzu to arrive. If all goes well, she'll accept Sayume and she'll legally become Misaka Sayume. If not, that means I will have to find a different family to adopt her immediately. I am not going to risk Sayume's status to fall into a Child Error. The school has already invested too much to have that status, that legal vulnerability foisted upon her as a method for us to lose her._

Sighing, she pushed herself up off her desk only to wince from the sudden pain in her hand. Looking down, she saw an ever expanding bruise on her hand.

 _Great… now I need to have this checked out to make sure I didn't fracture a bone or something._

Frowning, she glanced out the window to see the sun slowly making its way down into the horizon.

 _If I leave now, I should be able to get it checked this evening. And maybe get a second opinion on my situation._

A relieved smile slowly formed on her face as she walked towards her car.

 _Heaven's Canceller would forgive me if I vented loudly as he checked my injuries, right? Perhaps even give me his insight?_

* * *

As the sun rose over the English Channel, a tea colored haired man stood near the docks, talking on his cellphone while watching ferries load and unload their cargo continuously, his chilling voice in stark opposition to the warmth of the morning sun.

"So Aleister, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"What has happened over the past few days, is beyond what I have anticipated."

"So I am to believe that you had nothing to do with this tanned clone of my daughter?"

"I had no knowledge of her existence until a few moments before she was announced in the news."

"But you do not deny that your efforts are related to her creation."

"At no point did I order her creation or imply that I wished to see it done."

"And yet you do not refute my claims."

"..."

"Despite your tendency to lie, I do believe what you have told me so far. It does not fit your cultivated image of an all knowing shadowy chessmaster. But this is quite an unexpected show of weakness for your numerous enemies, is it not?"

"..."

"Regardless Aleister, I will not tolerate any further manipulation of my daughters. Continue to do so at your own peril."

"You have accepted the clone as your own already?"

"I left the decision to my wife, but knowing her, she will take her in."

"I see. But what can a single man do to threaten me? Do you truly believe a single free agent can do anything against Academy City?"

"Nothing, at least not directly, Aleister. But it is my job to point things out, to find paths for others to take, to fulfil their dreams and goals. I cannot stop you, but the multitude of your enemies hiding the shadows and basking in the light of the world? Who knows what will happen should the world stand against you. Do not test me Aleister."

"Your words have been noted, Misaka Tabigake."

On those words, the line cut off. Sighing the tea hair colored man turned around and walked into a nearby pub to wait for his next client.

 _So I'm about to have another daughter, pre-aged to boot. Heh, saves us the trouble of going through diapers and potty training at least. Still, I wish I could have gotten out of this contract, I'd love nothing more than to meet her. Oh well, I might be able to visit during the Daihasei Festival if this contract goes well._

Picking up a menu, he briefly scanned the alcoholic drinks before reaching into his wallet to find nothing inside.

"Tsk, I could use a drink, damn it."

* * *

Author's Notes

Heya Peeps,

I'm almost done with school this semester, just one final stretch of a crap ton of assignments and finals and I'm good. After this, I'll start posting often again assuming my crap luck improves. Like Jesus this has got to be one of the unluckiest semesters I've ever had. School websites crash and deleted my assignments so I had to redo them constantly, my laptop got damaged during a class's made rush to leave, leaving me with a massive repair bill. Then on one of the nights when I was sleep deprived, I backed into my editor's car by accident.

That one still pisses me off. I wasn't even going 5 miles per hour or 8 kilometers per hour for the rest of the world. I just took my foot off the brakes to back up, and 2 seconds later tapped his bumper. His damage? A tiny ding and one hand pound later good as new. Me? Almost $2k worth of damage to reflectors, bumper cover, and actual bumper. What the hell! Is my car made of paper mache?

I suppose there is a good reason why a Toyota Rav4 isn't part of Gilgamesh's treasury.

My venting aside, for those who read Shackles, I did complete the next chapter, but I wasn't satisfied with it, so instead of posting something I'm not happy with, I'm trying to decide how to rewrite it. I'll post it when I think it's finally acceptable.

Lastly a word about the polls: I wasn't expecting 1st and 2nd place to be In the Wake of the Golden Ending and The Knight of the Bow and the Lord of the Bow.

Do you guys want me to write a story out of order like the anime Baccano! or something? lol.

* * *

Editor's Notes

So, uh, yeah. That little accident did happen. The description was accurate. Anyways, with the semester finally going into Finals Mode, my editing (if I decide to do anymore before the semester ends) may not be up to my usual standards, but hey. It'll be readable if anything.

In other news, once the semester ends, I think I'll start doing my own writing alongside editing Kovaras' work. How it'll turn out, we'll never know. I'll decide whether or not to reveal the concept in a later EN (because I'm sure if I start writing, Kovaras will strongarm me into advertising his stories within my own and vice versa). Just know it has something to do with our favorite purple-haired kouhai.


End file.
